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GOP
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Tina Peters used to be the County Clerk of Mesa County, CO. During her 4-year term in that office, she became a hardcore election-denier, despite the fact that SHE was the one responsible for overseeing elections. As part of her "stop the steal" campaign, she helped a person affiliated with the MyPillow guy to fraudulently gain access to the county's Dominion-Voting-Systems-manufactured voting machines. No actual votes were affected, but the information collected was used to "prove" that DVS machines are unreliable.
Peters was investigated and put on trial, and yesterday, she was convicted of a bunch of crimes, including three felonies: three counts of attempting to influence a public servant (those are the felonies), one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.
Peters will be sentenced on Oct. 3; she faces up to 22.5 years in prison. She won't get the full amount, of course; 7-8 years is what most experts are guessing. Peters remains defiant: "I will continue to fight until the Truth is revealed that was not allowed to be brought during this trial. This is a sad day for our nation and the world. But we WILL win in the end." We assume that will not impress Judge Matthew Barrett when he is deciding on her sentence.
Peters, incidentally, was so obviously engaged in shenanigans that she was barred, by court order, from overseeing the 2022 elections. She tried to run for reelection to her post as county clerk last year, but when it was clear that wasn't happening, she dropped out. Peters also tried to run for Colorado Secretary of State in 2022, but didn't make it past the GOP primary.
We'll also note, even if it's a little extraneous, that Peters' B.A. "degree" is from the Clayton College of Natural Health. This now-defunct, non-accredited, distance-learning "educational institution" offered classes in various forms of alternative medicine. Hard to believe that someone who went to a "college" like that would have a tough time distinguishing actual evidence from "things I wish were true."
There are two reasons we take note of this news story. First, because the system may operate slowly sometimes, but it does tend to identify and punish election fraudsters. Second, because Peters' sentencing will take place just over a month before this year's election. Perhaps it will cause Republican officials who might be tempted to engage in chicanery to think twice about that. (Z)