Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters rejects terms to resume election supervision duties

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters (R) has shared that she intends to reject Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s (D) terms that would allow her to resume her election supervision responsibilities in the county.

Per the result of a civil case Griswold filed against Peters that came out in October of 2021, the clerk was formally stripped of her status as the county’s designated election official. 21st Judicial District Court Judge Valerie J. Robison found that Peters neglected her duties in securing county election systems in that case.

On Monday, details of Griswold’s offer to Peters became public. Those terms would have required Peters to retract certain statements made regarding voting machines and submit election-related communications to the Sec. of State’s office on a daily basis, among other requirements. In exchange, Peters would have been able to resume her role in supervising Mesa Co. elections.

The question remains as to who will be in charge when election time comes again. The county has primaries scheduled for June 28. The Mesa Co. Board of Commissioners put forward Wayne Williams to step in and supervise the November of 2021 election because Peters had been removed. His work with the county is set to end once audits of that election are concluded.

In a statement on this matter, Peters said quote, “Please name one time in the history of the world in which the side demanding you ‘repudiate’ your beliefs, especially beliefs for transparency, in exchange for return of your rights, have been the good guys?”

The clerk further argued that, “The statement they are demanding I repudiate doesn’t even discuss voter fraud. It was a demand for transparency. I will never accept this ‘keep quiet, repudiate transparency and have your rights back offer.’ ”

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