Victory for Free Speech: Sentence Commuted for Election Clerk Tina Peters
A victim of Democrats' 2020 election persecution has been freed.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) has commuted the prison sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, whom a partisan judge over-sentenced for politically incorrect speech about the 2020 election. Democrats' reaction to this case offers the latest proof of how dangerously totalitarian they have become.
Terrified of scrutiny of alleged irregularities, Democrat prosecutors and judges waged a lawfare campaign against countless Republicans who dared question the legitimacy of Biden's victory. But Peters' case was exceptionally obscene.
On May 15, Polis announced Peters will be released on parole on June 1, slashing her draconian nine-year sentence roughly in half. This comes a month after the Colorado Court of Appeals ordered her resentenced because of improper consideration of her right to free speech in the original sentencing.
In his commutation letter, Polis admitted that Peters' actions "did not interfere with any election" and "did not have to do with ballot counting." He framed the commutation around disproportionate sentencing and First Amendment concerns, acknowledging Peters was "over-sentenced."
Four Felonies for an Indiscretion
In May 2021, as a Mesa County Clerk, Peters allowed an unauthorized individual to help her copy the hard drives of the Dominion Voting Systems machines amid legitimate doubts about the 2020 presidential results. She did this during a software update, fearing Democrat officials intended to use the update to delete data needed for possible future audits.
To conceal their actions from Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D), she had her deputy clerk turn off the security cameras. However, the photos she and the observer took eventually wound up online, along with the passwords to the equipment. Griswold then decertified the machines and replaced them at great cost to the state.
In retaliation for this and Peters' persistent advocacy for election transparency around the 2020 election, the Democrat-controlled Colorado justice system sought to make an example of her.
In August 2024, she was convicted on seven of 10 counts, including four felonies. Polis-appointed District Judge Matthew Barrett sentenced her to nearly a decade in prison. She was then incarcerated with younger, violent criminals. Despite being physically assaulted on multiple occasions, the courts repeatedly denied her bail pending appeal.
A Threat to Their Democracy
By Barrett's own admission, Peters' speech—not her actual legal violations—landed her in prison with a longer sentence than many violent felons receive.
In her sentencing Barrett described the 69-year-old as more dangerous to society than "drug addicts, alcohol abusers, and the like" and openly affirmed that her sentence was a political attack on her speech.
"This is what makes Ms. Peters such a danger for our community," he said. "It's the position she held that has provided her the pulpit from which she can preach these lies, the undermining of our democratic process, the undermining of the belief and confidence in our election systems."
It makes sense to incarcerate unrepentant individuals who may repeat their crimes. But Peters had long been removed from her position as County Clerk. This draconian sentence was about sending a message—dare to publicly doubt election results, and you will lose your freedom and be treated as if you committed insurrection.
Lest anyone think His Honor was saying Americans don't have First Amendment rights concerning elections, Barrett clarified.
It's not about questioning [elections]. No one says you . . . can't ask. It's completely different. And if you don't understand that distinction, then there's nothing I can say or do here today that will change your mind.
This understanding of speech rights is more Soviet than American, and most Democrats unfortunately share it. In their view, citizens may meekly inquire of their comrade apparatchiks if elections were secure and accurate. But if the authorities tell them that they were, they have no right to undermine the party's authority by sowing doubt among the public. To do so is to endanger democracy itself.
Democrats' Reaction Reveals the Real Threat to Our Democracy
The rabid reaction from Democrats to Polis' commutation reveals a deeper partisan rot that has stripped Democrats of their humanity and sense of justice. This puts the country's ability to conduct politics in a policy-focused, civilized manner in danger far more than questioning the results of elections—even if they are perfectly secure.
Any reasonable person can see that the punishment did not fit the crime in this case. Polis cited the disparities between Peters' sentence and that of former State Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis (D). Like Peters, she was recently convicted of attempting to influence a public official. Jaquez Lewis was sentenced to probation and community service.
Yet on May 18, nearly 200 former and current Colorado Democrat officials and activists signed a letter asking the state party to censure Polis. Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros, who is primarying Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-01), and Attorney General candidate David Seligman alike have called for Polis' impeachment.
Democrats demand Peters rot in prison for nearly a decade over what amounted to an unwise misstep from a belief that she could not trust Griswold to preserve voter data. But Democrats' desire to destroy Peters' life stems from their desire to destroy the lives of everyone who doubts the alleged perfection of the 2020 election.
By commuting Peters' sentence, Polis belatedly exposes the totalitarian urges of his own party's prosecutors and judges. The danger that Barrett projected onto Peters in her sentencing is a danger that judges like him represent to our republic. If Democrats get away with chilling politically incorrect speech by prosecuting and over sentencing their opponents over minor issues, Republicans will have no choice but to respond in kind out of self-defense. This is how healthy countries spiral into political instability, which can spiral into failed states. This is the real threat to American democracy.
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