No responsible citizen would vote for her, and in a rational society she wouldn’t stand a chance.
But Tina Peters, who is under state and federal investigation for election tampering, and last week tried to kick a police officer while being arrested for illegally recording a court proceeding, has a loyal following (see, e.g., this website).
Peters has gained national notoriety as an election denier. She hobnobs with people like Mike Lindell (the “pillow guy” conspiracist) and Steve Bannon (a Trump associate who also promotes election lies). In her current position as Mesa County clerk, she’s nominally in charge of elections in her heavily-Republican home turf, but a judge took that responsibility away from her last year after she gave an unauthorized person her county’s voting machine access codes. Those expensive machines are now junkyard scrap.
She had originally planned to run for re-election, but this week announced on Bannon’s podcast that she’ll instead run for Colorado secretary of state. The good news is she won’t be Mesa County clerk anymore, and isn’t likely to survive a GOP primary for the latter office either.
Still.
The Denver Post reminds us (here) that we “should not be laughing at Tina Peters. … [She] is not funny. She’s dangerous.” That’s a harsh thing to say about a public official with aspirations for higher office. But in her case, it’s entirely appropriate.
Peters is more than a rule-breaker and liar. She’s part of an extremist movement that advocates political violence (see story here). The Denver Post calls them “out of control” and a danger to our democracy, not to mention the lives of elected officials. The newspaper called on the Colorado legislature to spend money on guards for the officials they’re making death threats against.
This woman is pathologically delusional. There are others like her out there. These people are now trying to seize control of elections by fielding candidates for election offices. In some cases, those offices are opening up because reputable incumbents are quitting under pressure of threats and harassment.
Voters now must be more careful than ever before to separate wheat from chaff when deciding who to vote for, and make sure people like this don’t get elected.
The video below shows Peters’ arrest (a longer version is here). Read more about this story here, here, here, here, and here.