Shasta County registrar plans to hire Tina Peters as assistant registrar in September
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Shasta County Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis said he plans to hire former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters as an assistant registrar in September. The move would return Peters, whose nine-year sentence for seven election-related felonies was commuted earlier this year, to election administration in a county where Donald Trump won about two-thirds of the vote.
Key Facts
- Shasta County Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis said he plans to hire Tina Peters next month as an assistant registrar.
- Peters had been serving a nine-year sentence for seven felonies, including identity theft, breaking into an election office, and stealing voting system software.
- Colorado Governor Jared Polis commuted Peters' sentence earlier this year, citing pressure from the Trump administration and First Amendment concerns.
- Donald Trump won about two-thirds of the vote in Shasta County in all three presidential elections dating back to 2016.
- Peters' prosecutor, Colorado's clemency advisory board, and Mesa County officials described her as entirely unrepentant for her crimes.
The Hiring Plan
Clint Curtis, registrar for voters in Shasta County, California, said he plans to hire former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters next month as an assistant registrar. Curtis made the statement in text exchanges cited by local news outlets. CyberScoop has reached out to Shasta County's elections office for comment. If hired, Peters would administer critical election duties in a county where about two-thirds of voters supported Donald Trump in each of the last three presidential elections.
Peters' Conviction and Commutation
Peters had been serving a nine-year sentence for seven felonies, including identity theft, breaking into an election office, disabling surveillance cameras, and stealing voting system software. Election experts called the software theft one of the most serious breaches of election systems in history; the stolen code was shared with conservative activists and later surfaced online. Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, commuted Peters' sentence earlier this year, citing pressure from the Trump administration and arguing the punishment violated her First Amendment rights. Polis wrote in a May Substack post that people should not be sent to prison for expressing political views, however misguided.
County Reaction and Officials
Shasta County's former registrar Cathy Darling Allen told CyberScoop in 2024 that she retired after decades of administering elections due to harassment from voters who embraced baseless election fraud conspiracy theories. Peters' prosecutor, Colorado's state clemency advisory board, and Mesa County officials described her as entirely unrepentant for her crimes. CyberScoop has reached out to Governor Polis for comment. If the hiring proceeds, it would place a convicted felon in a top deputy election post in a county whose conservative residents have adopted Trump's rhetoric about election fraud, voting machine hacks, and noncitizen voting.
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Shasta County registrar plans to hire Tina Peters as assistant registrar in September
