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Do We Vote by Faith in Colorado? 
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Do We Vote by Faith in Colorado? 

By Pamela Poll | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters has become a national figure in the battle for transparent elections in the USA. I believe her story holds important revelations. After the controversial 2020 election, around mid-year 2021, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold informed County Clerks that an update of their Dominion election software called the ‘Trusted Build’ would be installed on their election server. Preserving election data for at least 22 months is required by Federal law.  Clerk Peters arranged to have an outside person come in and create backups of the 2020 and 2021 election data. He made a second backup after the “Trusted Build” update was installed. The second backup confirmed that the 2020 ...
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Colorado appeals court orders new briefs after state flags statute oversight in Tina Peters case
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Colorado appeals court orders new briefs after state flags statute oversight in Tina Peters case

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado Court of Appeals has reopened briefing in Tina Peters’ criminal appeal after the state acknowledged it overlooked a key statutory issue while briefing and arguing the case. The appeal’s timeline changed on Jan. 29, when the Court of Appeals ordered a new round of briefing following a late filing from the Attorney General, a “notice of erratum” addressing the felony charge. 2026-01-29 C ORDER OF THE COURT Respond to ErratumDownload The question surfaced during oral argument earlier this month. Judges asked whether the felony conspiracy charge was tied to the correct version of Colorado law. After oral argument concluded, prosecutors revisited the statute. In a filing submitted January 23, the Attor...
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A closet, a camera and a setup: Tina Peters assaulted in prison then thrown into solitary
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A closet, a camera and a setup: Tina Peters assaulted in prison then thrown into solitary

By A.L. Goodwin | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice On the evening of January 18, just after 9:00 p.m., Tina Peters was assaulted inside the La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo, Colorado—not in a yard or a common area, but in a narrow janitor’s closet, out of view of surveillance cameras. Peters had been filling a portable swamp cooler, a task other inmates routinely refuse to do, even as the prison overheats in the dead of winter due to a failing HVAC system. To access the water tank, she pulled the unit into the cramped closet, positioning her head and upper body between the door and the cooler—leaving her physically pinned in a space barely wider than the machine itself. As Peters maneuvered the unit, another inmate approached in an agitated state. The wom...
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State Prison Investigates Incident Involving Tina Peters at La Vista Facility
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DENVER7, Approved, State

State Prison Investigates Incident Involving Tina Peters at La Vista Facility

By Stephanie Butzer | Denver7 Colorado Department of Corrections spokesperson Alondra Gonzalez-Garcia confirmed to Denver7 that the incident happened on Sunday and nobody was injured. Tina Peters, a former Mesa County clerk who was sentenced to nine years behind bars for her role in an election security breach in 2021, was involved in an incident with another inmate at La Vista Correctional Facility over the weekend. Colorado Department of Corrections spokesperson Alondra Gonzalez-Garcia confirmed to Denver7 that the incident happened on Sunday and nobody was injured. "The Department can confirm that inmate Tina Peters was involved in an incident with another inmate at the La Vista Correctional Facility on January 18, 2026, in which no one was injure...
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“You don’t get to ride both horses”: Appeals court presses both sides in Tina Peters case
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“You don’t get to ride both horses”: Appeals court presses both sides in Tina Peters case

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice “Reset the clock.” Defense attorney John Case used a football analogy as the Colorado Court of Appeals sorted out timing for oral arguments in Tina Peters’ appeal. It had nothing to do with the case itself—just how much time each side would have. But the aside drew a brief laugh before judges turned to a record years in the making. Defense attorney Peter Ticktin, who represents Peters and spoke with RMV after the hearing, said the depth of the judges’ questions tracked the briefs closely. “This is a big file,” Ticktin said. “This isn’t something you can read in an afternoon. They clearly did the work. They were chasing down each avenue and each argument that we had in our briefs.” Watch the full oral arguments below ...
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Griswold, county clerks urge Polis to reject clemency for Tina Peters ahead of appellate arguments
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Griswold, county clerks urge Polis to reject clemency for Tina Peters ahead of appellate arguments

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice With Peters’ appeal heading into oral arguments, Griswold and the Colorado County Clerks Association put it in writing for Gov. Jared Polis: don’t step in. The Jan. 13 letter carries three signatures: Griswold’s, Jackson County Clerk & Recorder Hayle Johnson’s and Colorado County Clerks Association executive director Matt Crane’s. In it, the group asks Polis not to grant clemency, warning that doing so would have consequences beyond Peters’ case. “In 2021, then-Clerk Tina Peters coordinated the breach of her own election equipment in the nation’s first public elections insider threat,” the letter states, asserting that her conduct placed the security of Mesa County elections and public confidence in democracy at risk. The a...
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Defense reply raises stakes in Peters appeal, asks court to order immediate release
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Defense reply raises stakes in Peters appeal, asks court to order immediate release

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice With oral arguments just days away, Tina Peters’ legal team has raised the stakes in her appeal, filing a reply that no longer asks the Colorado Court of Appeals simply to weigh jurisdiction—but to declare it already lost and order her immediate release. The reply, filed on the Jan. 8 deadline, directly challenges the Attorney General’s position that the court retains authority over the case and frames Peters’ continued imprisonment as unconstitutional.  2026-01-08 A Peters Reply to Peoples ResponseDownload Her attorneys explicitly say the appellate court should find that it lacks jurisdiction and that Peters “must be released from custody forthwith.” The filing follows Peters’ Dec. 23 motion challenging the cou...
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Polis Signals Possible Clemency Review for Tina Peters as Final Year Begins
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Polis Signals Possible Clemency Review for Tina Peters as Final Year Begins

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says he has an ambitious agenda for his final year in office. He's been full throttle since he was elected governor seven years ago, leading the state through COVID-19, two school shootings, and four of the most destructive wildfires in Colorado history. "It's hard to sprint. You sprint for 8 years, and that's always the way we've approached it. Our team -- we say we're running through the tape. We're running through the tape here," he said. As he nears the finish line, he is not only focused on the state budget and issues like affordable housing, but also which state prisoners should receive clemency. Among those who have asked the governor for a reduced sentence is former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peter...
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State fires back at Peters’ jurisdiction challenge, rejects pardon and supremacy claims
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State fires back at Peters’ jurisdiction challenge, rejects pardon and supremacy claims

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Fifteen months after Tina Peters was taken into custody at sentencing, and as she marks a second New Year behind bars, Colorado’s Attorney General moved to answer her latest court filing, pushing back on a motion that asks the Court of Appeals to decide whether it even has jurisdiction to proceed. Filed Monday afternoon on Jan. 5, the 23-page brief from Senior Assistant Attorneys General Nora Passamaneck and Lisa K. Michaels argues that President Trump's pardon holds no sway over Peters' state convictions—and that the Colorado Court of Appeals should press forward with her appeal without missing a beat. This latest filing comes on the heels of Peters' Dec. 23 motion, which RMV covered in detail. Citing the pardon and Suprem...
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The RMV stories readers didn’t scroll past in 2025
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The RMV stories readers didn’t scroll past in 2025

By RMV Editorial Board This list wasn’t built in a meeting. It formed over time, story by story, as readers decided what was worth stopping for. What follows are the 25 RMV stories that held attention in 2025—and didn’t let go. Looking across the year’s top 25 stories revealed patterns, which we reflect on at the end. 1. School unions gave $11K to Jeffco candidate who admitted to a sealed juvenile sexual offense RMV reported that a Jefferson County school board candidate privately acknowledged a sealed juvenile sexual offense while receiving financial support from education unions. The story documented information voters did not have before ballots were cast and raised questions about disclosure, trust, and institutional accountability in school leade...
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