FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: press@verifiedvoting.org
PHILADELPHIA (May 20, 2026) — Following Colorado Governor Jared Polis’s commutation of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’s prison sentence for felony convictions related to breaches of election equipment security protocols, Verified Voting’s President & CEO Pamela Smith released the following statement:
“Maintaining a secure chain of custody for ballots and voting equipment is one of the most important safeguards in our election system. It assures voters that their ballots and personal data are safe, and that their election officials are shielding election technology from unauthorized access.
“When Tina Peters broke chain of custody in pursuit of a false fraud narrative, she not only endangered those systems, she violated the trust of voters in Mesa County. That trust is far harder to restore than the taxpayer-funded voting equipment she compromised and ultimately forced voters to replace. It’s inexcusable that the same governor who signed the Colorado Election Security Act just a few years ago would now weaken democracy and the rule of law with his action.”
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