Inside the thick red-brick walls of La Vista correctional facility in Pueblo, Colorado, Tina Peters stares at the clock, her orange prison uniform a stark reminder of the price she’s paid for her role in one of America’s most contentious political sagas. Peters, the former Mesa County clerk, is currently serving a nine-year sentence for her part in a scheme to tamper with voting machines in an attempt to support Donald Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, as reported by CNN. The fallout from her actions—aided by subordinates who leaked voting passwords online via a QAnon-linked channel—has made her the only person serving time for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results. This, despite the fact that Trump pardoned hundreds of others convicted in connection with the January 6 events, including those who orchestrated or carried out violence that day.
Yet Peters remains behind bars, her conviction on state charges placing her beyond the reach of a presidential pardon. Even from prison, she continues to champion the so-called "story of 2020," penning public letters and participating in interviews. Trump himself has publicly called on Colorado officials to release Peters, labeling her an "innocent political prisoner." In an unusual move, the Department of Justice has urged a federal judge to consider her release on constitutional grounds, but as of October 24, 2025, no decision has been made.
The saga of Tina Peters is more than just the story of a single official gone rogue; it’s a vivid illustration of a broader and more troubling trend in American politics. Nearly five years after the 2020 election, claims of a "stolen" election have not faded into obscurity. Instead, they have been woven into the fabric of some corners of the Republican Party, with Trump not only pardoning those linked to January 6 but also elevating advisers, lawyers, and allies who spread such falsehoods to positions of power within his administration. According to The New York Times, several key government roles—including in the White House and the Department of Homeland Security—are now held by individuals who previously promoted conspiracy theories or actively sought to overturn the 2020 results.
One such figure is Heather Honey, a former corporate investigator with no prior experience in election administration. After the 2020 election, Honey joined forces with Cleta Mitchell, an attorney instrumental in Trump’s efforts to contest the Georgia results. Honey became a central player in the widely discredited Maricopa County audit in Arizona and has since been appointed deputy assistant secretary for Election Integrity at the Department of Homeland Security. In a recent call with nearly all of the nation’s secretaries of state, Honey reportedly used the rhetoric of election deniers, raising alarm among officials who had hoped for reassurances about federal efforts to safeguard the vote.
Mitchell herself now leads the national "Election Integrity Network," an organization wielding significant influence across several states. She has focused on issues such as ballot tampering and voter roll abuses, and has advocated for fingerprinting initiatives for voting. In 2021, she also took on a role with the FBI regarding 2020 cases in Nevada, further cementing her status as a key player in the ongoing efforts to reshape American election systems.
Other prominent election deniers have also ascended to positions of influence. Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, who served as one of the "fake electors" in 2020, is now a vocal advocate for Trump’s stance on election integrity and is expected to play a significant role in the upcoming elections. Sigal Chattah, a Republican-leaning attorney who previously represented a defendant in Nevada’s "fake electors" case, has become the state’s acting federal prosecutor, actively advancing investigations related to the 2020 election.
Perhaps most striking is the appointment of Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who played a prominent role in Trump’s 2020 lawsuits to overturn millions of votes. Olsen is now reportedly working at the White House on a special project investigating the 2020 election, according to The New York Times. This development has raised eyebrows among state and local officials, who worry that the injection of high-ranking officials with a history of spreading false information creates an environment of uncertainty and instability for future elections.
According to CNN, the presence of 2020 election deniers in influential government positions is not just a matter of symbolism—it has real-world implications for the administration of future elections, including the 2026 midterms and beyond. Federal programs that once protected election infrastructure have been slashed, both through workforce and funding cuts at the Department of Government Efficiency and other agencies. This has set off alarm bells for local election officials, who fear they are losing crucial federal partners in the effort to secure American elections.
In a bold move, Trump issued an executive order that would grant the executive branch—despite having no constitutional authority over elections—an unprecedented role in running them. Although the order is currently tied up in court, it signals a clear intent to use federal power to reshape the electoral system. Right-wing activists, including Honey and Mitchell, have even floated the idea of declaring a "national emergency" related to elections as a means to seize greater federal control, though legal experts remain skeptical about the president’s authority to undertake such a maneuver.
The Department of Justice has also shifted its focus in a dramatic way. Historically, the DOJ has served as the nation’s foremost defender of voting rights, acting as a bulwark against discrimination and disenfranchisement. Now, however, the department is building a national voter roll—a move that has many election officials deeply concerned about the potential for errors and the risk of political weaponization. The DOJ’s new emphasis is on hunting for fraud rather than protecting the right to vote, a sea change that has left many observers uneasy about the future of American democracy.
Trump has proposed several changes to the voting system, including making citizenship a strict prerequisite for voting, introducing new voting requirements, and restricting mail-in ballots. Such measures, if enacted, could fundamentally alter the electoral landscape, potentially disenfranchising large swaths of voters and further eroding trust in the system.
As the 2026 midterms approach, state and local officials are grappling with the ramifications of these sweeping changes. The injection of election deniers into high-ranking government positions, coupled with efforts to centralize control over elections and shift the focus of federal agencies, has created a climate of profound uncertainty. As Nick Corasaniti of The New York Times put it, "There is a lot of uncertainty when it comes to the dependability of the federal government to make sure that our elections are safe, secure and fair."
For now, the story of Tina Peters serves as both a cautionary tale and a symbol of the broader struggle over the future of American democracy. As election deniers gain power and reshape the institutions tasked with safeguarding the vote, the stakes for the nation’s electoral integrity have never been higher.
