by Sharon Rondeau
(May 16, 2026) — On Friday Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), who is term-limited and will leave office in January 2027, named 44 individuals whose prison sentences he was to commute or to whom he had issued pardons.
Among them is former Mesa County elections clerk Tina Peters, who was sentenced to eight and one-half years in prison for seven convictions in August 2024 allegedly involving “compromising” the election equipment in her office.
Following completion of her state prison sentence, Peters was to serve six months in county jail.
Polis commuted Peters’ sentence to four years and 4.5 months and authorized her release from prison for June 1.
In December President Trump issued a pardon to Peters “for those offenses she has or may have committed or taken part in related to election integrity and security during the period from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021.”
Since Peters’ convictions emanated at the state level, Trump’s pardon did not change her incarceration status.
Earlier this year Peters’ legal team appealed one of the convictions based on a statute not in effect at the time of her sentencing. A decision was rendered early last month in Peters’ favor, Newsweek reported.
President Trump had advocated relocating Peters to federal custody or releasing her, maintaining she was innocent of the charges for which she was convicted and citing her reported ill health.
Though she had maintained her innocence throughout the ordeal, in her application for executive clemency, Peters wrote that she “made a mistake” in misleading Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold.
“Upon release, I plan to do my best through legal means to support election integrity and based on my own personal experiences to elevate the cause of prison reform to help ensure the detention system is more fair and equitable for people of all ages,” Peters wrote. “My experiences have given me a perspective that plan to share with others to improve Colorado’s corrections system. I am grateful for a second chance and an earlier release, and I look forward to doing good in the world.”
Since the day after the November 3, 2020 election, Trump has insisted he won over Democrat Joe Biden.
In July 2024 Biden withdrew his reelection bid in the wake of a poor performance in an initial debate with Trump.
“#FREETINAPETERS” trended on Truth Social most of Saturday. That evening, Trump posted an article reporting Polis’s decision regarding Peters.