Since August of 2021, the MAGA-conspiracy-theory supporting elections official in Mesa County, Colorado, Tina Peters, has been under investigation for orchestrating a “serious breach” of elections security. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold has been forced to retire election equipment, while Peters has private-jetted off to spread fact-free theories concerning the 2020 election results between President Joe Biden and the former president, who should be in jail.
In the ensuing months of 2021, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office was successful in having Peters banned from participating in the Centennial State’s November elections. That ban on Peters being allowed to work as a Mesa County Clerk comes to an end soon. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Griswold is once again asking the courts to ban Peters from having any oversight responsibilities in the upcoming Nov. 2022 elections. In a written statement, Griswold said, “I am taking action to ensure that Mesa County voters have the elections they deserve. I will continue to provide the support and oversight needed to ensure the integrity of Colorado’s elections.”
According to WesternSlopeNow.com, Griswold’s permanent removal of Peters includes plans for her replacement; Griswold has asked the court to appoint Brandi Bantz, a Republican, to oversee the Mesa County elections, a move that is supported by the Mesa County Commissioners.
The Grand Junction Sentinel reports that Griswold’s move to have Peters banned comes at the same time that Mesa County commissioners voted to have Tina Peters “Permanently” removed as the top election official. It also comes after Peters refused to comply with the Secretary of State’s Office’s elections order that would have set security protocols and accountability procedures on Peters’ return to her position. This included having someone with her any time she was near secure equipment and locations.
Peters’ response, according to Colorado Public Radio (CPR) was to claim her she was being asked to sign away her rights. “Please name one time in the history of the world in which the side demanding you ‘repudiate’ your beliefs, especially beliefs for transparency, in exchange for return of your rights, have been the good guys? As said before—I will not back down. Not now, not ever.”
Was Peters referring to the terms of the order by Secretary Griswold that Peters does the bare minimum of her job to maintain the security of our elections? Maybe it was how the Election Order:
Maybe it’s the fact that Peters has to report her work, and thus be accountable for doing her job?
According to CPR, it’s probably the fact that one of the demands was that Peters “repudiate” a Facebook post she made: “We’ve got to get those machines so . . . they’re not able to do what they’re designed to do,” she wrote, along with other statements about how elections officials should rig machines to … not be rigged? Gotcha.
Peters reportedly showed up at the Mesa County commissioners’ vote to hurl accusations at Bantz and why both Peters and Knisely—under investigation for absolutely making election equipment less- or entirely non-secure—should remain in control of oversight. Peters’ main point was that Bantz was incompetent and didn’t know how to do the job. According to the Sentinel:
According to the Mesa County Commissioners, their vote to create a working elections commission was done in order to help secure the 2022 primaries and elections as they expect the courts to uphold Secretary Griswold’s lawsuit against Peters.
This move follows the pattern that Secretary of State Griswold has set for this serious investigation. Griswold first presented more of the initial, damning findings of her office’s investigation to a judge in late September, in order to have Peters banned from working the November 2021 election. That evidence included proof that Peters, along with her deputy clerk, Belinda Knisley, manipulated security protocols in order to allow an outside person access to elections equipment. They did this while also making sure to have security cameras turned off—something that screams guilt.
Along with this news, Colorado Republican Party Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown tweeted:
Of course, at the same time, two-thirds of Colorado’s GOP House members voted to “formally thanking state Rep. Ron Hanks and those who joined him at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.” Oh, and a majority of the Colorado House’s GOP voted to question whether or not President Joe Biden was actually elected, and “to urge the decertification of 2020 election results in an effort to reinstall former President Donald Trump; to support embattled Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, an ally of election deniers who is under investigation for allegedly allowing a security breach in her elections division.”
So, like the rest of the GOP, Colorado’s Chairwoman Brown is full of … something that rhymes with “hit.”
You can read the new lawsuit from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office here.
In the ensuing months of 2021, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office was successful in having Peters banned from participating in the Centennial State’s November elections. That ban on Peters being allowed to work as a Mesa County Clerk comes to an end soon. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Griswold is once again asking the courts to ban Peters from having any oversight responsibilities in the upcoming Nov. 2022 elections. In a written statement, Griswold said, “I am taking action to ensure that Mesa County voters have the elections they deserve. I will continue to provide the support and oversight needed to ensure the integrity of Colorado’s elections.”
According to WesternSlopeNow.com, Griswold’s permanent removal of Peters includes plans for her replacement; Griswold has asked the court to appoint Brandi Bantz, a Republican, to oversee the Mesa County elections, a move that is supported by the Mesa County Commissioners.
The Grand Junction Sentinel reports that Griswold’s move to have Peters banned comes at the same time that Mesa County commissioners voted to have Tina Peters “Permanently” removed as the top election official. It also comes after Peters refused to comply with the Secretary of State’s Office’s elections order that would have set security protocols and accountability procedures on Peters’ return to her position. This included having someone with her any time she was near secure equipment and locations.
Peters’ response, according to Colorado Public Radio (CPR) was to claim her she was being asked to sign away her rights. “Please name one time in the history of the world in which the side demanding you ‘repudiate’ your beliefs, especially beliefs for transparency, in exchange for return of your rights, have been the good guys? As said before—I will not back down. Not now, not ever.”
Was Peters referring to the terms of the order by Secretary Griswold that Peters does the bare minimum of her job to maintain the security of our elections? Maybe it was how the Election Order:
- prohibits Peters from accessing the statewide voter registration system known as “SCORE” unless and until she receives training on how to use the system and submits a signed SCORE Acceptable Use Policy as required by Election Rule 2.17.2;
- directs Peters to maintain 24-hour/day, 7-day/week video surveillance of all voting equipment;
Maybe it’s the fact that Peters has to report her work, and thus be accountable for doing her job?
According to CPR, it’s probably the fact that one of the demands was that Peters “repudiate” a Facebook post she made: “We’ve got to get those machines so . . . they’re not able to do what they’re designed to do,” she wrote, along with other statements about how elections officials should rig machines to … not be rigged? Gotcha.
Peters reportedly showed up at the Mesa County commissioners’ vote to hurl accusations at Bantz and why both Peters and Knisely—under investigation for absolutely making election equipment less- or entirely non-secure—should remain in control of oversight. Peters’ main point was that Bantz was incompetent and didn’t know how to do the job. According to the Sentinel:
According to the Mesa County Commissioners, their vote to create a working elections commission was done in order to help secure the 2022 primaries and elections as they expect the courts to uphold Secretary Griswold’s lawsuit against Peters.
This move follows the pattern that Secretary of State Griswold has set for this serious investigation. Griswold first presented more of the initial, damning findings of her office’s investigation to a judge in late September, in order to have Peters banned from working the November 2021 election. That evidence included proof that Peters, along with her deputy clerk, Belinda Knisley, manipulated security protocols in order to allow an outside person access to elections equipment. They did this while also making sure to have security cameras turned off—something that screams guilt.
Along with this news, Colorado Republican Party Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown tweeted:
Of course, at the same time, two-thirds of Colorado’s GOP House members voted to “formally thanking state Rep. Ron Hanks and those who joined him at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.” Oh, and a majority of the Colorado House’s GOP voted to question whether or not President Joe Biden was actually elected, and “to urge the decertification of 2020 election results in an effort to reinstall former President Donald Trump; to support embattled Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, an ally of election deniers who is under investigation for allegedly allowing a security breach in her elections division.”
So, like the rest of the GOP, Colorado’s Chairwoman Brown is full of … something that rhymes with “hit.”
You can read the new lawsuit from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office here.