By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice
Tina Peters, the former Mesa County Clerk and a Gold Star mother with a clean prior record, has now served two months of a nine-year prison sentence. She was found guilty on seven charges related to the unlawful access she granted to the county’s election system.
Recent open-record requests published by The Gateway Pundit reveal an alleged conflict of interest: while facing political persecution for investigating possible election data manipulation by the secretary of state and Dominion Voting Systems, Clerk Peters was unknowingly working alongside county officials who were also Dominion contractors.
The Gateway Pundit article raised questions about whether the public knew that county officials and employees were also working for Dominion at the time. There’s also the question of whether Bobbie Gross disclosed her Dominion work history while campaigning to serve as Mesa County clerk following Peters’ term.
Another concern is whether then Clerk Peters had knowledge of Mesa County officials and employees working for Dominion while she was overseeing elections.
Gateway Pundit also raised the ethical concern of local government officials engaging in contract work with election machine companies. And lastly, claims that while Gross was a county employee and doing contract work for Dominion, she engaged in the “media pile-on against Peters.”
Currently the Mesa County clerk, Gross has addressed the allegations made in the Gateway Pundit article regarding her history as a subcontractor with Dominion.
At the time, Gross was working in the treasurer’s office. Gross asserted that she never did any contract work for Dominion that was connected to Mesa County’s elections.
Gross explains her subcontract work for Dominion in 2020 was limited to providing ballot layout support for a county in New Mexico. She was hired through a temp agency and completed her tasks during evenings, weekends or vacation time to avoid any overlap with her role in Mesa County.
“Dominion hired temporary subcontractors to help build ballot layouts. My role was to create the layout, ensure accuracy and return it to the county clerk for approval. I didn’t touch anybody’s equipment — never did, never would,” Gross said.
Her election day assignment in Colorado’s Mineral County further illustrates the limited scope of her involvement.
“I was there to help if there were any issues, but they didn’t have any. I basically sat there all day until they were done tabulating and then came home,” she said.
Regarding the question of public disclosure, Gross maintains that she’s been open about her work history.
“Anyone who asked me, I told them,” she said. “I worked for Dominion as a subcontractor and built ballot content.”
When Gross was campaigning, she highlighted her work experience with Dominion as an asset, when asked: “I knew this experience could help Mesa County save money by doing ballot layout in-house.”
Gross highlighted one of the significant changes she implemented after being elected as Mesa County Clerk – bringing the ballot layout process in-house.
“When I was elected to the office, one of the things I brought back was the ability to do our own ballot layout,” she said. “They used to hire Dominion to do their ballot layout and provide Election Day support, but I realized we didn’t have to contract for that anymore.”
She emphasizes the advantages of keeping the process internal: “We don’t have to pay the money to do it, and we have complete control over our system and the data we’re putting in there,” Gross said. The in-house approach also streamlined operations.
“It’s more efficient because you don’t have to send things back and forth, saying, ‘Well, there’s a word misspelled,’ or ‘We want this changed,’ or ‘We don’t like the audio.’ We can do all of that in-house. It saves a ton of money for the county,” she explained.
Despite this transparency, Gross notes the Gateway Pundit article mischaracterized her role and motives.
“It was misinterpreted or insinuated that there’s more to the story than there is,” she explaines. “When I worked for Dominion, it was before anything happened with Tina Peters. I’ve never commented publicly about her situation or contributed to any media narrative against her.”
When asked why she had refrained from publicly commenting on Peters’ actions, Gross explained, “I don’t know all the details of everything that happened, even with the trial. I still don’t know all the details of what happened.”
Gross emphasizes her belief in the fundamental duty of county clerks to address potential issues in elections. “I don’t believe what Tina did was wrong. I think that as a county clerk, if you think that there’s something wrong with your election, you have every right to question it — every right — and you should,” she stated.
She underscores that any concerns must be supported by clear evidence: “If you find something that’s nefarious and not adding up and you have something to back that up, you should investigate your election. Absolutely.”
However, Gross was candid about her concerns with Peters’ approach. “I’m just not sure the way she went about it was the correct way,” she added.
Gross’s decision to subcontract for Dominion arose from her election experience, which gave her familiarity with the terminology and requirements of ballot layout systems.
Looking back, Gross says she would have made a different choice about contracting for Dominion.
“At the time, I had no intention of running for office. In hindsight, if I’d known my path would lead me here, I wouldn’t have done it.”
Gross reflected on her reaction to the Gateway Pundit article.
“They never came and asked me personally what the situation was,” Gross said, addressing the article’s assertions. “I’ve been open and honest about what I did. I still don’t feel like there was anything unethical about it since I wasn’t working in the clerk’s office, didn’t work near [Mesa County’s] elections, and I obviously didn’t even build ballot content for Colorado.”
She emphasized her willingness to engage directly with anyone seeking clarity about her actions or background.
“I would just encourage people to ask the questions,” Gross said. “I’m open and honest with my communication, but to make insinuated remarks or write articles without actually talking to the person is really disheartening.”
Gross concluded with a call for seeking truth over speculation. “If they want to know the truth, they should seek the truth.”