A Colorado grand jury has accused a county election secretary of sowing doubts about the 2020 presidential election, alleging that it was part of a “deceptive scheme” to violate the technology of the voting system used throughout the country, according to the indictment made public on Wednesday.
Tina Peters, a Republican chosen in 2018 to oversee Mesa County elections, was charged with 10 felonies and misdemeanors, including attempting to influence a public official, impersonation and first-degree misconduct. Deputy Secretary Belinda Knisley is also facing charges in the case.
Over the past year, Peters has appeared on stage with supporters of former President Donald Trump who falsely claimed that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Peters recently announced plans to do just that launch a campaign for Colorado Secretary of State on podcast by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.
AP
The indictment alleges that Peters and Knisley were part of a “misleading scheme that was designed to influence public officials, violate security protocols, override access to voting equipment, and trigger eventual distribution.” confidential information to unauthorized persons “.
An email was not immediately returned asking for comments from Peters’ representatives. Authorities said an arrest warrant had been issued. A Knisley attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.
State election officials first became aware of a security breach in Mesa County last summer when they posted a photo and video of confidential passwords of the voting system on social media and a conservative website.
Because each county in Colorado has unique passwords maintained by the state, officials identified them as belonging to Mesa County, a predominantly rural area on the Utah border that Trump won in the 2020 presidential election with nearly 63% of the vote. President Joe Biden won Colorado overall with 55.4% of the state’s votes.
Peters appeared on stage in August 2021 at a “cyber symposium” hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has promoted Trump’s allegations of a stolen election and vowed to reveal evidence during the event. .
Although no evidence was provided, a copy of the hard drive of the Mesa County voting system was distributed and posted online, according to attendees and state officials.
The copy included proprietary software developed by Dominion Voting Systems that is used by polling stations across the country. Experts have called the unauthorized release serious, saying it provides a potential “practice environment” that would allow anyone to investigate vulnerabilities that could be exploited during a future election.
Peters has previously said he did not know how the copy was distributed and declined to say who was with her when the copy was made.
“I didn’t go in to try to address any conspiracy theory,” Peters told The Associated Press in an interview earlier this year. “It is only my responsibility to protect and only my responsibility to protect electoral records.”
But state officials, in several court documents, have explained what they believe happened. It began when officials asked the county for a list of people who would be present for a routine state visit to prepare voting systems before the 2021 election.
As part of the process known as “trust building”, files from previous elections are removed and the software that manages the election is replaced with the original version. This is a security measure that ensures that election officials use unmodified software.
According to the indictment, Peters falsely presented a person as a county employee during a visit by state officials on May 25 and 26 for the “trust building.” County records showed that an entry card was used at the office assigned to the person to access a secure area of the polling station the previous Sunday.
Authorities have been working to determine the identity of the person, who is believed to have made two copies of the hard drive of the county voting system: one before the visit of state officials and another after.
The person whose name and background check was presented to state officials prior to the visit testified before the grand jury that, in fact, they were not present at the state visit and were never hired by the county, according to the indictment.
Peters has said he had the authority and obligation to make the copies. State officials, however, said Peters was only allowed to back up certain files and was not allowed to back up the entire hard drive. Federal authorities are also investigating.
Meanwhile, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold has persuaded a judge to ban Peters from overseeing last year’s Mesa County election and has called for a court order similar to this year’s election.
In a statement, Griswold – a Democrat seeking re-election this year – said: “Elections officials do so with public confidence and must be held accountable when they abuse their power or position.”
Peters also faces other legal issues arising from allegations that he obstructed a police officer assisting with a search warrant and violated court rules by using a tablet to record a hearing involving an election employee. of the county.
A Peters representative previously described the allegations as “partisan political witch-hunting.”
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