Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters stated Tuesday she has not accepted a position with a California county’s elections office. Peters, who was convicted in Mesa County for her role in a breach of her former office’s election system, had been rumored for a job with the Shasta County Elections Office in Northern California.
Shasta County Clerk Clint Curtis had reportedly told a conservative radio host of his intent to hire Peters as the new assistant registrar of voters, according to The New York Times.
Peters said any reports claiming she accepted a position with Shasta County are inaccurate. In her statement, she clarified that while there have been discussions about ways she might assist with election integrity and ballot-authenticity efforts, no "formal role" has been accepted. Peters added that her concern extends beyond one county, focusing on all 3,144 counties in America and public trust in elections.
A Mesa County jury convicted Peters on multiple felony counts, including three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, during her 2024 trial. As a Republican and supporter of President Donald Trump, Peters spread conspiracy theories about voting machines during and after the 2020 presidential election.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted Peters’ prison sentence, leading to her release from the Colorado Department of Corrections on June 1. Her parole plan does not prevent her from accepting an elections job, The Colorado Sun reported.
Since her release, Peters has continued her advocacy work on election integrity, maintaining unsubstantiated claims that compromised voting machines allow election fraud. She stated her advocacy aims at ending reliance on electronic election processes and voting-machine systems that cannot be fully trusted, verified, or secured from foreign components, outside access, or outside influence. Peters also called for an end to unverified mail-in ballots and a return to transparent, auditable election practices.
In Colorado, voting systems are prohibited from connecting to the internet. Background-checked staff from the Secretary of State's office are responsible for installing voting software statewide. Safeguards like risk-limiting audits are in place to ensure the accuracy of election results and voting machines.
While former President Trump has repeatedly claimed mail-in voting is prone to widespread fraud, there is no evidence to support this, and mail ballot fraud is rare. Colorado’s post-election audits consistently confirm accurate ballot counting. Claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election have been debunked by election officials, experts, media investigations, law enforcement, courts, and officials from Trump’s own campaign and administration.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, had publicly criticized the possibility of Peters working in California elections. He stated he would direct the state corrections department to block any transfer of her parole to California, later celebrating reports that she declined an an offer. California’s two U.S. senators also expressed concerns to California’s secretary of state regarding reports of Shasta County seeking to hire Peters.
Peter Ticktin, Peters’ attorney, stated that Newsom’s comments contradict the privileges and immunities clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Separately, Shasta County officials voted to censure Clerk Clint Curtis for remarks made to employees and for working on his campaign while on county time. The county also requested a state investigation into Curtis after he certified the primary election and subsequently made unverified claims about the election and his staff.
