Peters, who alleged fraud in the 2020 election, was convicted of lying to state officials. Trump said he pardoned Peters, but that power lies with Gov. Polis.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis granted clemency on May 15 to former county elections clerk Tina Peters, who had been convicted of lying to Colorado state officials about a tech specialist she brought in to observe changes to election software.
The commutation of her sentence by the Democratic governor came after the Colorado Court of Appeals left Peters’s conviction intact but ordered her resentenced.
In December 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned Peters, a Republican and vocal Trump supporter, but the presidential pardon appeared to be symbolic because she was convicted of a state-level offense.
Trump said at the time in a Truth Social post that Peters was being incarcerated in a Colorado prison “for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections.”
At that time, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani offered a possible rationale for Trump’s pardon of Peters.
“While Tina is currently in state prison, the pardon ensures the federal government cannot pursue federal charges and gives renewed focus and attention to Tina’s story,” Giuliani wrote on X.
Peters previously said on her website that her efforts as Mesa County clerk were aimed at upholding election integrity by “creating a forensic backdrop” of a county election server.
The commutation means that Peters, who is 70, will be released on parole on June 1. Without the clemency, she would not have been eligible for parole until November 2028.
In his clemency letter to Peters, Polis said she had been sentenced to six months in county jail, along with eight years and three months in the Colorado Department of Corrections, adding up to a total sentence of nearly nine years.
“The crimes you were convicted of are very serious and you deserve to spend time in prison for these offenses,” he said. “However, this is an extremely unusual and lengthy sentence for a first time offender who committed nonviolent crimes.”
Polis said he agreed with the Colorado Court of Appeals, which found that the trial court’s comments about Peters’s “belief in the existence of 2020 election fraud went beyond relevant considerations for her sentencing.”
The appeals court stated that the trial court “should not have considered those beliefs relevant when imposing sentence,” he said.
Polis said Peters’s application for the commutation “demonstrates taking responsibility for your crimes, and a commitment to follow the law going forward.”
“This commutation will change your future,” he said. “It is up to you to make the most of this opportunity.”
In August 2024, a jury had convicted Peters of multiple charges, including “three counts of attempt to influence a public servant and one count each of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty, [and] first degree official misconduct,” according to the appeals court opinion.
Peters thanked Polis on X for the commutation and for being given “a second chance and an earlier release.”
“I have learned and grown during my time in prison and going forward I will make sure that my actions always follow the law, and I will avoid the mistakes of the past,” she said. “Upon release, I plan to do my best through legal means to support election integrity and based on my own personal experiences to elevate the cause of prison reform.”
Trump celebrated the clemency on Truth Social with a two-word post reading, “FREE TINA!”
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) hailed the commutation as “great news.”
“Congratulations to Tina Peters and thank you to Governor Polis for granting Tina Peters clemency!!” she wrote on X.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, criticized the commutation, calling it “an affront to our democracy.”
“The Governor’s actions today will validate and embolden the election denial movement, and leave a dark, dangerous imprint on American democracy for years to come,” she said in a statement.
The Democratic leadership in the Colorado House and Senate said Polis should have allowed the courts to decide the sentence of Peters and accused her of having “sought to overturn the election results.”
“[Tina Peters] was prosecuted by a Republican district attorney in a conservative county and convicted by a jury of her peers,” they said in a joint statement. “Her actions threatened our elections, and commuting her sentence sends exactly the wrong message at a time when the Trump Administration is threatening vote-by-mail and working to undermine our democracy.”
Stacy Robinson and Reuters contributed to this report.
