Trump Administration Seeks Custody of Convicted Election Denier Tina Peters

By Matt Cohen

Former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters looks on during her sentencing for her election interference case at the Mesa County District Court Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Grand Junction, Colo. (Larry Robinson/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel via AP)

The Trump administration is seeking custody of Tina Peters, the former GOP Colorado election clerk who was sentenced to nine years in prison on state charges for her role in a 2021 voting system data breach, in a failed attempt to find voter fraud. 

President Donald Trump has several times called for Peters’ release, and her cause has been taken up by far-right anti-voting activists.

The Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) received a letter Friday from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) requesting that Peters be transferred from state prison, where she’s been incarcerated since Oct. 2024, to federal custody. 

It’s unclear why the Trump administration is seeking custody of Peters, but the president has faced a surge of pressure from her allies in the election denier movement to intervene in her case. 

Neither the BOP nor the CDOC immediately responded to a request for comment or to provide a copy of the letter. 

In 2021, Peters allowed unauthorized people into the Mesa County election office and used the stolen identity of a software engineer to copy sensitive election data to post online. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) first launched an investigation into the Mesa County election office when QAnon conspiracy theorist Ron Watkins posted screenshots and videos of a Mesa County voting machine — which tied back to Peters. 

Peters was found guilty of three felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one felony count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and a slew of misdemeanors.

Peter Ticktin, an attorney for Peters, told the Associated Press that he believes the Trump administration is trying to have Peters transferred to federal custody because of her health issues and to be more easily involved in 2020 election investigations. 

Trump himself has repeatedly called for Peters’ release. In May, Trump said on social media that he instructed the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) “to take all necessary action to help secure the release.” And in August, Trump posted that, “if she is not released, I am going to take harsh measures!!!”

After Trump pardoned 77 allies who helped him try to steal the 2020 election, DOJ pardon attorney Ed Martin said on social media that the Trump administration is “working” on securing Peters’ release.

But there’s little Trump can do to actually free Peters, since she was convicted on state, not federal charges. 

“Tina Peters is in state prison because she committed crimes that put the safety of our elections at risk,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) said in an emailed statement to Democracy Docket. “She was prosecuted and convicted by a jury of her peers for illegally tampering with our election system and violating her duty. There is no basis for the Bureau of Prisons to request a transfer of her custody. Any scheme to prevent her from being held accountable under Colorado law is outrageous. I will strongly oppose any such efforts.”