Shasta County, California, is reportedly planning to hire Tina Peters, a former Colorado election official who was convicted of election-related felonies, as a top deputy in its elections office. Clint Curtis, the county's registrar of voters, indicated his intent to appoint Peters as an assistant registrar next month, according to local news reports citing text exchanges with Curtis.
Peters recently had her nine-year prison sentence commuted by Colorado Governor Jared Polis. Her conviction stemmed from seven felonies, including identity theft, unauthorized entry into an election office, disabling surveillance cameras, and stealing voting system software. Prosecutors, Colorado's clemency advisory board, and Mesa County officials have consistently stated that Peters remained unrepentant for her actions. Election experts have characterized her theft of voting system software as one of the most severe breaches of election systems in history, noting that she shared the stolen code with conservative activists, leading to its eventual appearance online.
Governor Polis, a Democrat, defended his decision to commute Peters' sentence earlier this year, citing pressure from the Trump administration and arguing that her punishment infringed upon her First Amendment rights. He stated in a May Substack post that while he disagrees with Peters' views, individuals are not imprisoned for expressing political opinions in America. The commutation occurred before an appeals court could rule on a potential sentence reduction.
The proposed hiring has drawn significant concern from California lawmakers. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, both Democrats, wrote to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, expressing "grave concern" over the possibility of Peters gaining access to state election systems. They warned that if Shasta County proceeds, taxpayers could face "unwelcomed and potentially hefty expenses" and requested maximum oversight to ensure Peters does not improperly access ballots, voting systems, or sensitive voter information.
Shasta County has a conservative electorate, with approximately two-thirds of voters supporting Donald Trump in the last three presidential elections. The county has experienced a climate of distrust regarding election integrity, mirroring rhetoric about election fraud and voting machine vulnerabilities. The former registrar of voters, Cathy Darling Allen, retired in 2024 after decades of service, citing persistent harassment from voters embracing baseless election fraud conspiracy theories.
The plan to hire Peters comes amidst recent controversy surrounding Registrar Clint Curtis himself. The Shasta County Board of Supervisors formally censured Curtis earlier this month following investigations by the county and an external consulting firm, The Oppenheimer Group. These investigations concluded that Curtis was verbally abusive or physically threatening towards staff. At an August 11 public meeting, Supervisor Matt Plummer referenced over 700 pages of evidence and multiple eyewitness accounts, detailing claims that Curtis threatened to punch, slap, kill, or execute subordinates, and once threatened to remove a door to access an employee allegedly hiding from him. Plummer clarified that the censure was not about election integrity but about a department head allegedly violating personnel codes, and that Curtis retains his authority over election administration.
