Statement from Secretary of State Jena Griswold following the release of Tina Peters

Denver, June 1, 2026 - Tina Peters, who was convicted by a Mesa County jury on four felony counts and three misdemeanors for her role in the 2021 breach of her own county’s election equipment, was released today from La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo, Colorado following Governor Polis’ decision to grant her clemency.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold has issued the following statement:

The Governor’s grant of clemency to Tina Peters is an affront to our democracy, the people of Colorado, and election officials across the country. It sends a dangerous message about accountability for those who would attack elections. Peters’ release also will embolden the election denial movement; since the grant of clemency, she has continued to spread election falsehoods and conspiracies.

In 2021, then-Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters compromised her county’s voting equipment trying to prove conspiracies. Secretary Griswold took swift action, including working to remove Peters from  direct election oversight, appointing a former Republican Secretary of State to oversee the election, decertifying the county’s voting equipment, and then leading the nation’s first law on election insider threats.

Peters’ actions cost Mesa County nearly one million dollars in replacement equipment.

On August 12, 2024, Peters was found guilty by a jury of her peers on four felonies and three misdemeanors, including three counts of attempts to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, one count of first degree official misconduct, one count of violation of duty, and one count of failure to comply with requirements of the Secretary of State. She was sentenced to nine years of incarceration on October 3, 2024.

On April 2, 2026, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld her convictions, and ordered that she be re-sentenced by the District Court. On May 15, Governor Polis announced that he was commuting her sentence, making her eligible for release today.