A Republican county clerk was charged with violating voting security in Colorado

A Republican county clerk was charged with violating voting security in Colorado. 

Colorado authorities say that a Republican county clerk and her deputy have been indicted on multiple felony charges after voting equipment passwords were leaked on a right-wing blog. The grand jury indicted the two on Wednesday.

Ten criminal charges have been filed against Tina Peters, the top election official in Mesa County and a candidate for the state office of Colorado secretary of state. 

They include conspiracy and criminal impersonation and identity theft, and identity theft.

There were charges against her deputy clerk, Belinda Knisley. She was charged with influencing a public servant, breaking her duty, and not following the secretary of state’s instructions.

In the 2020 election, Peters, a supporter of former Republican President Donald Trump, agreed with him when he said that many people were voting illegally, even though this was not true. 

It was claimed by many people who were very loyal to Trump that some of the alleged fraud that cost him the election may have been done with corrupt voting equipment and software.

Peters is the current secretary of state for Colorado. Jena Griswold, a Democrat, ordered an investigation into Peters after images of Mesa County’s election equipment passwords were put on a blog last year.

The suspected breach was found during a computer software update in 2021. It did not affect the election or the voting. After the investigation, Griswold decertified the equipment and went to court to stop Peters from running future votes.

The FBI said last August that it was looking into the case. More: read more

According to the indictment, Peters and Knisley came up with a “deceptive scheme” that was meant to influence public servants, break security rules, get too close to voting equipment, and start the process of giving private information to people who weren’t supposed to get it.

On Wednesday afternoon, both Peters and Knisley turned themselves into police. On $500,000 bond each, they were jailed. Court records show that.

Peters, who has said that she did not do anything wrong, said last month that she was running for the Republican nomination for secretary of state in a bid to get rid of Griswold as Colorado’s top election official.

Because of politics, the indictment was made, Peters said on Wednesday.