A grand jury has indicted a Colorado county clerk for taking part in an effort to breach election security in connection to the 2020 election.
The charges filed against Mesa County clerk Tina Peters, a Republican, included seven felony and three misdemeanor counts for her involvement in a “deceptive scheme which was designed to influence public servants, breach security protocols, exceed permissible access to voting equipment, and set in motion the eventual distribution of confidential information to unauthorized people.” Deputy Clerk Belinda Knisley was charged on six counts.
Peter and Knisley are accused of aiding an unauthorized person to copy sensitive information from voting machines. The information, along with passwords were leaked online. State election officials were able to put together the pieces since passwords are unique to specific Colorado counties.
Peters, known to be a staunch former President Donald Trump supporter, became the embodiment of election runners’ fears, that someone in power would carry out a theory, like Trump’s insistence of election fraud, and cause the public to doubt the voting process even more.
Peters said the indictment was a “politically motivated” response to her recent announcement that she would be running for Colorado secretary of state on Trump adviser, Steve Bannon‘s podcast. The position is currently held by Jena Griswold, who has been spearheading the case, calling Peters an “insider threat.”
