Shasta County Plans Hire of Convicted Election Official Tina Peters

A Shasta County, California official is planning to hire Tina Peters to help oversee local elections before the midterms. For many on the Western Slope, the immediate reaction is skeptical: How can the woman convicted of tampering with Mesa County voting machines be trusted to watch over ballots again?

The answer, according to the state of Colorado, is that nothing in her current legal status actually forbids it.

Peters, 70, has been on parole since Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence in May. She is now under the supervision of the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC). Since her release, she has become a visible fixture in the election integrity movement. She spoke at the Rocky Mountain Voice Freedom Festival in Castle Rock, where organizers billed her as “a symbol of what it means to stand for truth.” She received what attendees described as a “hero’s standing ovation” at a fraud-fighting summit in Las Vegas. She even stood beside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, where he argued she was jailed for uncovering “election fraud” rather than causing the “immeasurable damage” to public trust that the judge who originally sentenced her had cited.

But the question is whether her parole terms create a barrier to re-entering the very industry she was convicted of undermining. To hear the DOC tell it, they do not.

Christian Andrade, a spokesperson for the department, clarified in an email that while Peters must notify her supervising community parole officer of any job changes, there are no clauses limiting the type of work she can perform.

“There are no specific restrictions regarding the type of employment Ms. Peters may obtain; however, any employment must be consistent with her existing parole agreement conditions and any other applicable court orders,” Andrade said.

This is a standard provision. Parolees are generally required to seek employment or enroll in full-time educational programs to demonstrate rehabilitation. The agreement does not specify a sector. It simply says she needs a job.

There is a nuance regarding travel. Under her conditions, Peters must seek her parole officer’s permission before leaving the state. This matters because the hiring official, Clint Curtis, the registrar of voters in Shasta County, is located in Northern California. If she accepts the position, she will need to cross the state line regularly. That requires paperwork, but it is not a prohibition.

Experts note that states can sometimes restrict who a parolee associates with, usually to prevent contact with known criminals. It is unclear if such a restriction was considered for Peters. If it had been, it might complicate working alongside other political figures, but it likely wouldn’t stop her from counting ballots.

Federal law offers a different path. People convicted of federal crimes can be barred from specific jobs if courts fear they might use their positions to commit new offenses. Peters was convicted under state law. That distinction leaves her eligible for state-level election roles, provided she meets the basic qualifications.

The math holds up, legally speaking. She has a job requirement. She has a specific job offer. There is no rule saying she cannot take it.

Whether that makes sense politically is a separate debate. But from a bureaucratic standpoint, the door is open. Curtis has said he plans to hire her as a consultant or assistant registrar of voters. If she accepts, she will be back in the booth, watching the machines she once accused of lying.

As for what comes next, the DOC’s stance is clear: she just needs to keep her paperwork in order.

“Any employment must be consistent with her existing parole agreement conditions,” Andrade said.