Mercy should follow genuine remorse. Genuine remorse means taking responsibility for your actions. Yet, after her conviction for allowing the breach of election equipment she was sworn to protect, Tina Peters, a former Mesa County election clerk, chose defiance. The day after her conviction, Peters appeared on Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast and promised to keep fighting, doubling down on her claims about foreign vote-flipping software tied to Serbia. Months later, at the hearing where she was sentenced to nine years in prison, a Colorado state judge said he was convinced she’d do it all over again.
But Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, has said he’s considering a clemency petition from Peters — not because she is repentant, and not because the merits of her case demand that he take a second look. He’s looking at her case only because of political pressure applied by President Donald Trump — even if he says his concern is that the nine-year sentence the 70-year-old is serving is too “harsh.”
In a past version of America, people have gone to jail for that. Isn’t that something people should go to jail for?
JARED POLIS IN SEPTEMBER, SPEAKING OF TINA PETERS
In September, Polis didn’t hedge when asked about Peters’ sentence. “In a past version of America, people have gone to jail for that,” he said. “Isn’t that something people should go to jail for?” That was the right answer. That was a governor who understood what was at stake.
Then Trump turned up the heat. He withheld disaster funding, attempted to cancel more than $100 million in transportation grants and vetoed legislation that would have created a new pipeline to carry clean water in the state. Now, Polis says Peters’ sentence is excessive.
Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers — in conservative Mesa County — on seven counts, including four felonies, of orchestrating an illegal breach of her county’s voting equipment. She let an unauthorized outsider into a secure elections room, directed staff to shut off surveillance cameras and copied hard drives from voting machines — all to try to prove conspiracy theories about the 2020 election that were never true.
To defend his position that Peters’ sentence is too harsh and disproportionate, Polis has cited the case of former state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, who was also convicted of the felony of attempting to influence a public official and received probation. But his comparison is flawed. Lewis forged letters from former aides amid a serious ethics investigation. Peters attacked the machinery of democracy, used the breach to amplify national lies about a stolen election and cost Mesa County $1.4 million to repair the damage. The two cases aren’t even in the same universe.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and the bipartisan Colorado County Clerks Association sent a joint letter to the governor in January urging him not to release Peters from prison. Also, the Republican district attorney who prosecuted Peters and the state’s Democratic attorney general oppose clemency.
Ms. Peters’ sentence was not harsh by any reasonable standard.
MATT CRANE OF THE COLORADO County CLERKS ASSOCIATION
“Ms. Peters’ sentence was not harsh by any reasonable standard,” Matt Crane, a former GOP clerk who now runs the Colorado County Clerks Association, has said. “Granting clemency to an unrepentant convicted criminal who deliberately sought to undermine our democratic system would be deeply concerning and risks further eroding public trust in the institutions Americans rely on for free and fair elections.”
This moment isn’t happening in a vacuum. On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned almost 1,600 Jan. 6 rioters, including those convicted of violently assaulting law enforcement. Peters is the one he couldn’t reach, because her conviction, at the state level, was beyond his control. To be clear, freeing Peters wouldn’t just be mercy for her. It would be a major capitulation to Trump, who, despite the facts and his losses in court, refuses to accept that he lost the 2020 election. Currently, an appeals court is reviewing aspects of Peters’ sentence. If judges find a technical error, then they can correct her sentencing. That’s how the system works. That’s entirely different from a governor stepping in to extend grace to someone who still insists her actions were justified. Polis has entertained leniency for Peters while the Trump administration has spent the past year systematically dismantling the institutions built to protect election security. The administration gutted the election security division of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, firing officials who defended voting infrastructure from foreign interference, and replacing them with election deniers. Across the administration, officials are now using their positions to both pursue debunked conspiracy theories about 2020 and potentially interfere in the 2026 midterm elections. Polis should be sending a clear signal to every would-be election denier: Attacking democratic infrastructure carries real consequences, regardless of who’s applying pressure from Washington. The Colorado Sun recently asked every Democratic lawmaker whether the governor should reduce Peters’ sentence. None said yes. Trump’s retribution against Colorado has been real, and the pain is not imaginary. But it hasn’t moved a single Democrat in the Colorado legislature to say they agree with Polis’ suggestion that he’ll let the former clerk go. The Colorado Sun recently asked every Democratic lawmaker whether the governor should reduce Peters’ sentence. None said yes. Many used expletives as they said no. Of the handful who declined to comment or couldn’t be reached, not one offered a word of support, either. Polis knew what was right in September. Then Trump got louder and he caved. Polis is not a profile in courage. He’s a cautionary tale about what happens to democracy when the people charged with defending it decide it’s not worth the fight.
Anthony Coley
Anthony Coley is a legal analyst for NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC. He was director of the Justice Department’s office of public affairs from February 2021 until January 2023. 
Polis appears to have been shaken by Trump. But if he thinks releasing Peters will stop the bleeding, he’s fooling himself. Capitulation doesn’t end pressure. It invites more of it.