By Keith Coffman
DENVER (Reuters) – A Colorado grand jury has indicted a Republican county clerk and her deputy on multiple felony counts related to an election security breach in her office after voting equipment passwords were posted on a right-wing blog, authorities said on Wednesday.
Tina Peters, 66, who is the top election official in Mesa County in her role as clerk and recorder, faces a total of 10 criminal charges, including conspiracy, criminal impersonation and identity theft, court documents show.
Her deputy clerk, Belinda Knisley, was charged with attempting to influence a public servant, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.
Peters, a supporter of former Republican President Donald Trump, was a proponent of his false assertion of widespread election fraud during the 2020 campaign. Many of Trump’s supporters have made unsubstantiated claims that voting equipment and software may have been used to carry out at least some of the alleged fraud.
Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, ordered an investigation after images of Mesa County’s election equipment passwords were posted on the blog last year.
The alleged breach was discovered during a computer software update in 2021 and did not involve any election or voting irregularities. Griswold decertified the equipment after the probe and has gone to court seeking to bar Peters from overseeing upcoming elections.
The pair “devised and executed a deceptive scheme which was designed to influence public servants, breach security protocols, exceed permissible access to voting equipment, and set in motion the eventual distribution of confidential information to unauthorized people,” the indictment said.
Arrest warrants were issued for Peters and Knisley, court records show, but it was unclear if the pair have been taken into custody and booked by early Wednesday afternoon.
An email message sent to a representative of Peters seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Griswold’s response prompted Peters to announce last month that she is running in the Republican primary in a bid to unseat Griswold as the state’s top election official.
(Reporting By Keith Coffman; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
