A former Colorado election official has asked the Supreme Court for an emergency intervention to stop her trial on charges of leaked voting machine passwords.
Tina Peters, who served as Mesa County’s clerk and recorder during the 2020 election cycle, has been charged with giving a security company access to voting machines in 2021.
Peters has filed a request with the Supreme Court arguing that federal election protections give her immunity from the state’s prosecution and that means that the Supreme Court must prevent her trial from taking place.
In her application, she argued "An injunction stopping the state trial while this court considers this case is necessary to preserve the status quo and prevent an irreparable injury to the institutional interests of the federal government and to Ms. Peters’ right not to be subjected to state trial for executing her duty under federal law."
Peters argues that her duty is to preserve election records as Colorado’s chief election official and thus she has immunity for her actions.
The controversy began after Colorado announced it would be upgrading its election management systems after the conclusion of the 2020 presidential election.
In response to this, Peters hired Gerald Wood to help her back up Dominion voting machines as part of her duty to preserve election records. Peters was concerned about the possibility of election fraud in the 2020 election and was committed to preserving all records in the event of an investigation.
In response to her decision to hire a private entity to back up the machines, Peters was hit with a whopping seven felony counts related to attempting to influence a public servant, impersonation, and identity theft.
To accompany those felonies, Peters was also hit with misdemeanor charges of official misconduct, violating her duties, and failing to comply with the Colorado secretary of state.
She has pled not guilty to all charges and argued that the case against her is a political hitjob due to her support for former President Donald Trump and her beliefs that there were irregularities in the 2020 presidential election.
By all accounts, Peters is in dire straights and doesn't have friends in Colorado which is why she is appealing to the conservative Supreme Court that might be willing to hear her case out.
Peters argued, "Arising as it does from the Constitution’s foundational allocation of power between the federal and state governments, it is critically important that the immunity provided by the supremacy clause for federal actors contending with hostile state officials be properly applied."
Looking at the intent behind Peters's actions and the extreme response from the state of Colorado, it certainly appears that Peters is being railroaded for political reasons.
It remains to be seen if the Supreme Court will pull the trigger and grant her request to sort this mess out.
