Indicted, Pro-Trump Election Official Refuses to Concede Race She Finished Third In
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Tina Peters, the controversial pro-Trump election official under indictment for breaching voting machines, lost her bid for Colorado secretary of state on Tuesday – although she denies it.
“We didn’t lose, we just found evidence of more fraud … they’re cheating and we’ll prove it once again,” Peters said on Tuesday after finishing third in her GOP primary.
Peters is under criminal indictment for her role in allowing an unauthorized person to tamper with election equipment during the 2020 presidential election while serving as Mesa County’s Clerk and Recorder.
Peters has long been a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump’s debunked allegations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Peter’s indictment stems from her participation in a plot to try and break into election machines under her supervision and copy data from them to prove fraud — instead voter information from the machines appeared online in August 2021, published in part by QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theorists like Ron Watkins.
Authorities took note of the leaked voter information and began an investigation, which resulted in Peter’s indictment.
Peters has been “charged with three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, and one count each of conspiracy to commit attempting to influence, criminal impersonation, impersonation conspiracy, identity theft, official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state’s office,” according to USA Today’s summary of the indictment.
Peter’s brazen fraud gained her national attention on the far-right and propelled her to run for secretary of state, which would have put her in charge of Colorado’s elections.
Peter was defeated by Jefferson County Clerk Pam Anderson, who won with some 43.7% of the vote. Mike O’Donnell, a former nonprofit executive who shared Peter’s affinity for pushing debunked conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 election came in second place with 29.1 % and Peters landed in third with 27.2 %.
The Denver Post’s Saja Hindi reported on election night that “Peters said they won’t back down, won’t give up, no matter what the results are.”
“Tina Peters is now speaking after AP calls the SOS GOP primary for Pam Anderson. She says the numbers are flipped and the results are fraudulent. ‘It’s not over,’ she said,” added Hindi.
