Shasta County is bringing former Colorado clerk Tina Peters into its elections office as a consultant, drawing national attention and sharp criticism from the left.
Shasta County, California is bringing Tina Peters into its elections office. The former Mesa County, Colorado clerk will join as a consultant next month, stepping into the assistant registrar role as the county pushes ahead with its fight over how votes are counted.
Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis announced the plan over the weekend. Peters replaces Brent Turner, his longtime deputy, who remains on medical leave until September 4. Curtis told a conservative radio program that Peters brings real experience and a willingness to take political fire.
Peters became a national figure during the 2020 election integrity movement. As Mesa County clerk, she raised alarms about voting machine vulnerabilities and pushed to preserve election records, a fight that eventually landed her in legal trouble.
She was convicted in 2024 on charges connected to unauthorized access of voting equipment data and sentenced to nearly nine years in prison. Colorado Governor Jared Polis commuted her sentence earlier this year, and she was released roughly two months ago.
Peters remains on parole. Any move to California requires permission to travel outside Colorado, a step that must be cleared before she can take the post.
Curtis says Peters will serve as a consultant and assist with the county's upcoming elections. He has stressed that she will not have access to the county's voting systems.
The appointment also puts Peters in line to take over as interim registrar if Curtis steps aside before his term ends, a scenario that would leave the county board of supervisors to make a replacement appointment.
Shasta County has spent years fighting Sacramento over election rules, including a push to count ballots by hand. The county's willingness to challenge the status quo made it a natural landing spot for an election-integrity figure like Peters. Curtis, an outspoken skeptic of the state's voting machinery, recently lost his bid to remain the county's elections chief, leaving him in the final stretch of his term.
The announcement drew immediate backlash from the left. California Senator Alex Padilla condemned the plan, saying Peters should be barred from any role in the state's elections because of her conviction.
Election watchdogs and voting rights groups piled on as well, warning that putting Peters anywhere near the ballot-counting process is a threat to democracy. None of the critics have pointed to any actual problem in Shasta County's elections, and Curtis has dismissed the outcry as noise from people who fear scrutiny of the process.
For conservatives, the hire is a rare bright spot in a state where election officials often resist transparency. Peters has spent years arguing that voters deserve to know exactly how their ballots are handled, and she now gets a chance to press for the accountability she has long demanded.
Turner's medical leave runs through September 4, and Curtis has said Peters will take over the assistant role at that point, pending the logistics of her parole travel approval.
The county board of supervisors could still weigh in, and legal challenges are likely to keep coming. But for now, one of the most recognizable names in the election integrity movement is heading to California's far north.
If the hire sticks, Shasta County will be one of the first counties in the nation to put a prominent figure from the 2020 election fight into an active elections office. Supporters say that is exactly the point: after years of watching Sacramento dictate how votes are counted, the county is putting someone willing to ask hard questions in the room.
Shasta County is bringing former Colorado clerk Tina Peters into its elections office as a consultant, drawing national attention and sharp criticism from the left.
freedomlinedispatch.com
