Imagine spending years of your life making sure every vote in your county is counted fairly—only to end up behind bars for it. That’s exactly what happened to a small-town Colorado clerk who dared to ask uncomfortable questions after the 2020 election. And now, in a move that has half the country cheering and the other half furious, President Trump has stepped in with a pardon.
It sounds like something out of a political thriller, doesn’t it? Except it’s happening right now, in real time, and the implications could ripple for years to come.
A Pardon That Might Not Actually Free Anyone (Yet)
Late on December 11, President Trump dropped a bombshell on Truth Social. He announced he is pardoning Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk currently serving a nine-year sentence in Colorado state prison. In his words, she’s locked up simply for “the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections.”
It’s classic Trump—short, punchy, and designed to light up the base. But here’s where things get legally messy. Peters wasn’t convicted in federal court. Every single one of her seven felony counts came from the state of Colorado. And the U.S. Constitution is pretty clear: presidential pardons only apply to “Offences against the United States.” State crimes? Those are off-limits.
Colorado’s Democratic governor and attorney general wasted no time pointing that out. They basically said, “Nice try, but she’s still ours.” So on the surface, Peters remains exactly where she was yesterday—behind bars.
What Exactly Did Tina Peters Do?
To understand why this pardon attempt matters, you have to go back to spring 2021. Peters, a gold-star mother and lifelong Republican, became convinced something wasn’t right with the Dominion voting machines used in her county.
Instead of quietly moving on, she decided to preserve evidence. Working with outside experts, her office created forensic images of the election servers before a scheduled “trusted build” software update that many feared would erase crucial logs. That imaging process is at the heart of the criminal case against her.
Prosecutors painted it as an illegal breach—claiming she let unauthorized people into secure areas and misused a county employee’s security badge. Peters and her supporters insist she was transparently trying to protect election records for future audits. Same facts, completely different stories depending on who’s telling it.
“I did what any responsible election official should do—preserve evidence so the truth could come out later.”
– Tina Peters, in a pre-sentencing interview
Why Issue a Symbolic Pardon?
Even Trump’s allies admit this pardon won’t spring Peters from state prison today. So why do it?
Several reasons are floating around. First, it sends an unmistakable signal to every election worker who questioned 2020 results: the new administration has your back. Second, it blocks any future federal prosecution if the DOJ ever tried to pile on (think computer fraud charges under CFAA). Third—and maybe most important—it keeps the entire controversy alive in the public conversation right when Republican-controlled state legislatures are pushing new election-integrity laws.
In my view, the timing is deliberate. With GOP governors in 27 states and hundreds of election-reform bills already filed for 2025-2026 sessions, having a high-profile “martyr” front and center helps the cause enormously.
The Bigger Constitutional Fight Brewing
Colorado officials are already talking about federalism and states’ rights—the same arguments conservatives usually love. Suddenly the roles are reversed, and it’s fascinating to watch.
Could Trump’s team be setting up a test case for the Supreme Court? Imagine a filing that argues modern federal election laws (HAVA, NVRA, etc.) have so entangled state and federal authority that certain state election crimes are effectively “offences against the United States.” It’s a long-shot theory, but originalists on the Court have surprised us before.
More likely, the pardon is pure politics. It forces Democratic state officials to defend keeping a 70-year-old grandmother in prison for what many voters see as patriotism. That’s a tough look in swing counties.
- Federal pardon power has never been successfully applied to state convictions in 235 years
- Some legal scholars argue the Civil War-era case Ex parte Garland leaves the door cracked open
- Trump previously issued preemptive pardons (including reportedly to Rudy Giuliani) showing willingness to push boundaries
Where Tina Peters’ Case Stands Today
As of this writing, Peters remains in Colorado custody. Her state appeals are ongoing, and her legal team just filed new motions citing prosecutorial misconduct and jury contamination. The pardon document itself—if formally issued—would sit in her file like a golden ticket she can’t yet cash.
But symbolism matters. Supporters have already raised hundreds of thousands for her defense fund since the announcement. Rallies are being planned. And the phrase “Free Tina Peters” is trending alongside “Election Integrity” across conservative platforms.
What Happens Next? Three Scenarios
Let’s game this out, because the next few months could get wild.
- Colorado digs in – They keep her incarcerated, daring the Trump administration to escalate. Public opinion splits hard along partisan lines, but no immediate release.
- Governor Polis blinks – Facing national backlash and pressure from moderate Democrats, he commutes the sentence or grants clemency “in the interest of healing.” Peters walks free by spring.
- Federal pressure campaign – Trump DOJ opens parallel investigations into Colorado election officials for “civil rights violations” against Peters. Forces a negotiation where she’s quietly released to avoid bigger headaches.
My money’s on door number one for now, but door number three is the one that should worry blue-state AGs. Once the new DOJ starts looking at how certain district attorneys pursued 2020-related cases, a lot of people could get uncomfortable fast.
The Human Side Everyone Forgets
Lost in the legal chess match is a real person. Tina Peters is 69 years old. She lost her son to a Navy SEAL training accident years ago—a Gold Star mother who says she got involved because she didn’t want other mothers to wonder if their children died defending a rigged system.
Whether you believe she’s a hero or a criminal, nine years feels staggeringly harsh for what amounted to copying computer hard drives. Compare that to sentences for violent offenders walking out in 18 months, and you start to understand why so many normal people—not just MAGA diehards—are outraged.
I’ve covered a lot of election controversies since 2020. I’ve seen good people destroyed on both sides. But watching a grandmother in shackles for trying to take a server snapshot? That one hits different.
At the end of the day, Trump’s pardon attempt may not open Tina Peters’ cell door today. But it just threw gasoline on a fire that was already burning. Election trust in America is at historic lows. Moves like this—whether legally sound or not—remind millions of voters that someone in power finally hears them.
And that, more than any court ruling, might be the real point.
We’ll keep tracking every twist in this story. Because if 2020 taught us anything, it’s that these fights don’t end—they just change battlefields.
