One of the most controversial county clerks in the nation is no longer behind bars. Former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters walked out of a Colorado prison on Monday morning, reports Colorado Public Radio. The 70-year-old was released from the La Vista Correctional Facility after Gov. Jared Polis cut short her nearly nine-year sentence for tampering with voting machines following the 2020 election, part of her attempt to show that the results had been rigged against President Trump. The president lobbied for the early release of Peters, who ended up serving about a quarter of her sentence, notes the AP.
Polis has stressed he did not pardon Peters, saying she "committed a crime" and should remain a felon, but he argued her punishment was too harsh—concerns echoed by an appeals court that had ordered her re-sentenced. His move sidestepped that process and triggered immediate blowback: Colorado's Democratic Party formally censured the Democratic governor and barred him from party events, calling the commutation reckless. Peters, celebrated by some Trump allies as a symbol of their election claims, is appealing her conviction to the Colorado Supreme Court and says she plans to continue pushing for what she calls election integrity through legal channels.
Vice President JD Vance has suggested that Peters could be eligible for a payout from Trump's proposed $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund," designed as payback for those deemed to have been unfairly prosecuted in the Biden era. However, the New York Times notes that it was a Republican district attorney who prosecuted her, and a jury of Mesa residents that convicted her.
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