Gov. Jared Polis has signaled he may commute the nine-year prison sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, the last high-profile election denier still behind bars for crimes tied to the 2020 election.
He should not. Peters is exactly where she belongs.
Her conviction was not partisan revenge or political theater. A 12-member Mesa County jury unanimously found her guilty on seven counts – including four felonies – for orchestrating a breach of her county’s election system. The jury was drawn from Mesa County, a strongly Republican community that overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump. Even the county’s three Republican commissioners condemned Peters’ actions, saying she turned their community into a “laughingstock” and stuck taxpayers with $1.4 million in costs.
As clerk, Peters shut off a security camera, allowed an associate using another person’s identity to access secure voting equipment and helped copy sensitive election data that later appeared online. Those actions were not protected speech.
Peters has every First Amendment right to claim – loudly and endlessly – that the 2020 election was stolen. What she does not have the right to do is sabotage the election systems she was sworn to safeguard.
Polis has compared Peters’ case to that of former state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, who received probation after being convicted of attempting to influence a public official. The comparison collapses under minimal scrutiny. As Denver District Attorney John Walsh remarked, the two cases were not “even in the same solar system in terms of the severity of their conduct.” Some lawmakers suggest the real question is whether Jaquez Lewis’s sentence was too lenient – not whether Peters’ was too harsh.
Peters didn’t forge letters in an ethics dispute. She orchestrated a breach of election equipment that fueled national conspiracy theories and unleashed threats against election workers across Colorado.
Opposition to clemency crosses party lines. All 66 Democrats in the Colorado Legislature recently signed a letter urging Polis not to shorten Peters’ sentence, warning it would give election conspiracy theorists “a figurehead to rally around.” We wish more Republican lawmakers would join them and uphold their oath to defend the rule of law. Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, a Republican, warned commuting Peters’ sentence would be a “gross injustice.” Attorney General Phil Weiser called it a “grave miscarriage of justice.”
Colorado’s county clerks – who know elections best – warned in a rare bipartisan letter that allowing Peters to escape consequences would signal election sabotage can be negotiated away through political pressure. As La Plata County Clerk Tiffany Lee – a former Republican who is now unaffiliated – told this editorial board last year, Peters “absolutely deserved jail time,” noting how painstakingly election officials safeguard the voting process.
Peters has shown none of the qualities typically required for clemency: remorse, accountability or rehabilitation. She continues repeating the conspiracy theories that led to her crimes. Surveillance footage shows Peters grabbing and shoving another inmate during a prison altercation now under investigation. She will be eligible for parole in November 2028 and could be released earlier based on good-behavior credits – something she has so far found difficult to demonstrate.
Polis’ office now says he will wait to see how the Colorado Court of Appeals rules on Peters’ pending appeal before deciding on clemency. That restraint would be welcome. In 2021, Polis commuted truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos’ sentence before a judge completed resentencing, frustrating victims’ families who had asked him to let the court finish its work. Governors wield clemency power, but they are not judges – and sentence review belongs in the courts.
Polis may believe commuting Peters’ sentence could ease President Donald Trump’s pressure on Colorado – from canceled federal funding to the relocation of Space Command. That hope is naive. Appeasing a bully rarely stops the bullying.
If Polis reduces Peters’ sentence, it will define his governorship – and not favorably.
Colorado’s justice system worked. A jury delivered its verdict. A judge imposed a lawful sentence. Gov. Polis should respect both.
Tina Peters should remain in prison.
