National Election-Denying Group Calls for Jared Polis to Pardon Tina Peters

Former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters followed Donald Trump's election-denying rhetoric all the way to prison. Now Trump is back in the White House — but he can't get her out of the big house.

In October, Peters was sentenced to nine years behind bars for helping an unauthorized person make copies of sensitive county voting documents as part of an election tampering scheme inspired by repeatedly discredited claims that Trump, rather than Joe Biden, won the 2020 election. She was convicted of seven counts, including attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and official misconduct.

On his first day back in office last month, Trump pardoned many of the people who broke the law to try to keep him in power, granting clemency to everyone charged in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. However, presidents can only grant pardons for federal offenses. Peters was convicted on state charges, meaning only Colorado Governor Jared Polis can pardon her.

A Trump-aligned national election-denying group is now pleading for Polis to do so, and has declared February 8 "Free Tina Peters Day."

In announcing the push for pardon on February 7, United Sovereign Americans called for the "immediate release" of Peters, who is currently in the Larimer County jail because she felt unsafe in Mesa County.

"This brave woman was indicted and imprisoned for simply doing her job," the group announced. "Focusing on the oath she swore to faithfully serve the citizens of Colorado and the United States, she took steps to secure Mesa County voter registration information from destruction, which she was required by law to maintain. Instead of being recognized for her vigilance, she was targeted, convicted, and sentenced to nine years in prison."

United Sovereign Americans is a far-right, Missouri-based organization that announced in October it was going to sue over the results of the 2024 presidential election — before Trump ultimately won. The group pre-emptively sued Colorado and eight other states earlier in the year, alleging voter registration errors in what critics called an effort to spread misinformation and sow doubt in the nation's election system.

The organization describes itself as nonpartisan, though it was co-founded by Harry Haury, who has deep ties to the “Stop the Steal” movement, and the group is regularly represented by Trump lawyers Bruce Castor and Michael van der Veen.

A handful of other calls for Polis to pardon Peters have arisen in recent weeks, including a petition led by failed Colorado gubernatorial candidate Danielle Neuschwanger that argued Trump set "a legal precedent of releasing political prisoners" by pardoning the January 6 rioters.

Neuschwanger unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022, during which time she made headlines for falsely claiming that Polis is not actually gay, having a lengthy record of arrests, and baselessly accusing the Colorado Republican Party of election fraud when she wasn't chosen to be the party's nominee.

In response to the latest pardoning plea for Peters, a spokesperson for Polis says the governor will accept clemency applications through March 2026.

"The governor takes clemency seriously and understands the weighty responsibility that comes with it," the spokesperson continues, "and he evaluates each clemency application carefully and weighs individual circumstances.”