Republican county clerk indicted in voting-machine breach, arrest warrant issued

Enlarge / Booking photos of Tina Peters (left) and Belinda Knisley (right) provided by the Mesa County Sheriff's Office after Peters and Knisley turned themselves in on March 9, 2022. (credit: Aurich Lawson)

A grand jury in Colorado yesterday indicted Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters on 10 charges related to the leak of voting-system BIOS passwords and other confidential information that ended up being published by QAnon conspiracy theorist Ron Watkins. Deputy Clerk Belinda Knisley was indicted on six counts.

Arrest warrants were issued for both Peters and Knisley, and bond was set at $500,000 for each woman. 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 2021, Peters and Knisley "devised and 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," the indictment said. "Furthermore, these defendants, without permission or lawful authorization, also used the name and personal identifying information of Gerald 'Jerry' Wood to further their criminal scheme. This unlawful use of Mr. Wood's identity by Tina Peters and Belinda Knisley also subjected Mr. Wood to various forms of liability and criminal exposure."

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