Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and her deputy, Belinda Knisley, turned themselves in to authorities Wednesday afternoon at the county sheriff's department hours after prosecutors released a 13-count grand jury indictment alleging the pair took part in a "deceptive scheme" to breach secure voting equipment, officials said.
Peters, a Republican candidate for Colorado secretary of state, faces seven felony and three misdemeanor charges, including attempting to influence a public servant, criminal impersonation, identity theft and first-degree official misconduct. Knisley, her alleged co-conspirator, is charged with four felonies and two misdemeanors.
At press time, both were being held on court-ordered cash bonds set at $500,000.
Peters has maintained her innocence from the start and on Wednesday dismissed the charges as part of a politically motivated attempt by officials from both parties to muzzle supporters of former President Donald Trump.
The charges stem from multiple investigations that began last summer when state election officials discovered secure passwords linked to the county's voting equipment posted on right-wing websites dedicated to promoting Trump's unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Days later, exact digital copies of the Dominion Voting Systems election management software used by the county also appeared online.
Mesa County District Attorney Daniel Rubinstein and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser issued a joint statement on Wednesday describing the indictments and characterizing the grand jury as belonging to the same population of Mesa County residents that voted Peters into office as the county's top election official in 2018. They said their investigation into the security breach is ongoing and that more people could be charged.
“Yesterday, the Mesa County grand jury returned an indictment after the presentation of evidence in an ongoing investigation into the alleged election system breach in Mesa County," Rubinstein and Weiser said. "The grand jury, randomly selected from the same pool of citizens that elected Clerk Tina Peters and chosen months before any of these alleged offenses occurred, concluded there is probable cause that Clerk Peters and Deputy Clerk Knisley committed crimes."
They said that a grand jury determines whether probable cause of criminal activity has been established and stressed that the charges still must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
Added the prosecutors: “We remind everyone that these are allegations at this point and that they are presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
Mesa County Grand Jury Indictment
In a statement issued by her campaign late Wednesday, Peters blasted Secretary of State Jena Griswold, the Democrat she hopes to unseat in the fall, and Rubinstein, a Republican she derided as a "self-described never-Trumper," saying the two "have been united in their opposition to conservative activists within the Republican Party who continue to demand more transparency in Colorado’s elections process."
Said Peters: "Using legal muscle to indict political opponents during an election isn't new strategy, but it's easier to execute when you have a district attorney who despises President Trump and any constitutional conservative like myself who continues to demand all election evidence be made available to the public."
Peters went on to suggest that the indictments are part of a scheme by Democrats and establishment Republicans to boost a less formidable GOP candidate to run against Griswold in the fall.
"But a grand jury is one of the last cards the Democrats have to play here," she said. "They hope to influence voters enough with indictments and arrests and media drama during the primaries, to elect a weaker general election opponent for Secretary of State Jena Griswold.” She added that "knowledgeable Republican voters in this June’s primary will eye-roll at these trumped-up charges. They are little more than political theatre designed to pick the primary winner."
Two other Republicans, former Jefferson County Clerk Pam Anderson and economic development specialist Mike O'Donnell, are also running for secretary of state. Anderson has defended Colorado's election system as secure and made clear that she disagrees with Peters's contentions that the 2020 election was somehow rigged.
Tina Peters - Amended Arrest Warrant
Peters faces other legal challenges. The FBI is investigating allegations that could include wire fraud and cybercrime charges stemming from the incident, which brought national attention to Peters when she appeared at a symposium sponsored by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and then spent weeks in hiding after claiming she'd received death threats for attempting to expose insecure election systems.
Peters is also facing a contempt of court citation and obstruction charges stemming from allegations she used an iPad to record court proceedings in a criminal case involving Knisley, who was suspended from her job last summer and faces related felony burglary and misdemeanor cybercrime charges.
Peters maintains that she hasn't broken any laws and instead has been trying to unearth evidence of voter fraud, though computer experts say her claims are largely based on misunderstandings about how computer systems and elections work.
Peters declared last month that she's challenging Griswold, the Democrat whose office discovered the alleged election equipment breach last summer and ordered Mesa County to replace its election equipment.
Griswold successfully sued to prevent Peters from overseeing the county's off-year election based on evidence presented to a judge that Peters helped unauthorized people gain access to voting equipment and software and attempted to cover it up. Earlier this year Griswold filed a similar lawsuit to block Peters from running this year's election.
Belinda Knisley - Amended Arrest Warrant
In a written statement to Colorado Politics, Griswold said election officials who abuse their position "must be held accountable."
“Every eligible Coloradan — Republican, Democrat and unaffiliated alike — has the right to make their voice heard in safe, accessible, and secure elections," Griswold said. "To do that, we need election administrators who are committed to following the law and election rules. Officials tasked with carrying out elections do so in public trust and must be held accountable when they abuse their power or position. As secretary of state, I will always protect Colorado’s election infrastructure and Coloradans’ right to vote, which means upholding election laws and rules to ensure the security and integrity of the state’s elections.”
Anderson, one of the Republicans running against Peters in the primary said it's time for Colorado to have a "drama-free" secretary of state and said the indictments "further erode voter confidence."
“I believe that secretary of state is the most important race in Colorado," she said. "It is a serious job that requires integrity and trust."
Saying that she believes in "public service, respect for the law, respect for public safety professionals and upholding the oath I took as an elected official," Anderson added: "The contrast for voters is clear. It is time to remove the distractions and return a competent and trusted professional back to the office.”
