Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has reduced the state prison sentence of former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters, who was convicted of tampering with election equipment, and announced she will be eligible for parole on June 1, 2026. Peters was convicted in 2024 for her role in facilitating a security breach of Mesa County voting machines six months after the 2020 election, part of efforts to support former President Trump’s unproven claims of a stolen election.
Polis said he shortened her sentence because a state appeals court upheld her 2024 conviction but ordered she be re-sentenced after finding the trial judge had improperly considered Peters’ protected speech at sentencing. The governor said he believes there is both the appearance and the likelihood that Peters’ speech was a factor in the original nearly nine-year sentence, and he reduced the punishment to roughly four and a half years. Because Peters was sentenced on Oct. 3, 2024, Polis noted she will have served more than 600 days by the time she is released on parole.
At her 2024 sentencing, Judge Matthew Barrett sharply criticized Peters, saying in part, “You are no hero. You’re a charlatan who used, and is still using, your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that’s been proven to be junk time and time again.” The appeals court concluded that comments about Peters’ speech improperly influenced the length of the sentence and ordered resentencing.
The commutation follows months of pressure from the Trump administration and allies urging her release. President Donald Trump, who previously issued a December pardon that was widely described as symbolic because a president cannot pardon state crimes, reacted to Polis’ decision on social media by posting “FREE TINA.” Polis said his action was not an effort to appease the president and that he would oppose any unlawful federal interference.
The decision drew swift and broad condemnation across Colorado politics. Election officials, Democrats and some Republicans warned that commuting Peters’ sentence sends a harmful message to election workers and could make their jobs more dangerous. Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, said Polis had missed an opportunity to “stand firmly for the rule of law” and protect election officials. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, whose office helped prosecute Peters and who is running to succeed Polis, called the move “a sad day for Colorado.” U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, another Democrat seeking the governorship, said he “vehemently disagreed” with the decision. Other state officials described the commutation as reckless, disgraceful or undemocratic.
Polis and his office emphasized their review of clemency petitions and the governor’s stated desire to temper sentences where the law was not applied correctly. He also noted that Peters’ clemency application included an admission that she had made a mistake and a pledge to obey the law in the future. Polis said he expects Peters may continue to express views he finds false, but that beliefs and speech are not crimes.
Peters issued a statement shortly after the announcement thanking the governor, saying she was sorry for her actions and would follow the law going forward. Her legal team has argued she has been targeted for her political views and that she is not a criminal.
Polis’ move is likely to reverberate politically as he completes his final year in office. It highlights tensions between concerns about free speech and the integrity of the criminal sentencing process, the politicization of clemency decisions, and ongoing divisions over the fallout from the 2020 election and efforts to hold its most prominent challengers and allies accountable.