Republican county clerk indicted in scheme to leak voting-machine passwords

Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was indicted by a grand jury in Colorado yesterday for her role in the leak of voting system passwords and other confidential information that ended up being published by Ron Watkins. A deputy clerk was indicted.

Arrest warrants were issued for both Peters and Knisley, and bond was set at $500,000. Peters, a Republican, last month announced she intends to run for secretary of state, saying that Colorado deserves a secretary of state who will stand up to the Biden administration that wants to run our country into the ground with nationalized elections.

In April and May of 2021, Peters and Knisley executed a deceptive scheme which was designed to influence public servants, breach security protocols, exceed permissible access to voting equipment, and set in motion the eventual distribution of confidential information to unauthorized people. Mr. Wood was exposed to various forms of liability and criminal exposure as a result of this unlawful use of his identity.

Peters promoted the idea that voting machines were manipulated to help Joe Biden win the presidency. The home of Peters was raided by the FBI and local law enforcement in November as part of the investigation into the voting machine security breach. She was arrested and briefly held by police last month when she was accused of resisting a search warrant.

Trusted build meeting not so trustworthy

Peters was indicted by a Mesa County grand jury for attempting to influence a public servant, criminal impersonation, two counts of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, identity theft, violation of duty, and failing to comply with requirements issued by the secretary of state. Knisley was charged with three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty, and failing to comply with requirements issued by the secretary of state.

The software update was supposed to ensure a secure chain of custody for the voting system. According to the indictment, Knisley stated in an interview that Tina Peters directed her to turn off the cameras.

The secretary of state asked the office of Peters to let members of the public watch the trusted build, but they only required personnel from Dominion Voting Systems.