Peters Out

?This Week in Democracy?

• At the vice-presidential debate on Tuesday, JD Vance refused to say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Vance also downplayed the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and refused to say if he would challenge the results of the election if he and Trump lost.? ?

• Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed Special Counsel Jack Smith’s latest filing in the federal election interference case. The 165-page filing offers more details about how Donald Trump and his allies attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election. It contains a trove of new evidence and information about their efforts. “When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office,” prosecutors wrote .? ?

?? READ: The latest indictment, explained ? ?

• Former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk and Election Denier?Tina?Peters?was sentenced to nine years for her role in a security breach of voting equipment in 2021. Peters was convicted in August of giving an associate of MyPillow CEO?Mike Lindell?unauthorized access to the equipment.? ?

?? READ: Our statement on Peters’ sentencing ?

• In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, election officials in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina are working to ensure that voters can still cast their ballots safely and securely. “We will take the measures necessary to ensure that we can deliver voting,” said Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the North Carolina Board of Elections.? ?

?? EXPLORE: Resources for North Carolina voters affected by Hurricane

• Judge Aileen Cannon scheduled a trial to begin on Nov. 18 for the man accused of plotting to assassinate Donald Trump. At his arraignment hearing on Monday, the man pleaded not guilty . Prosecutors asked Cannon to delay the trial, citing a massive amount of evidence they have gathered.?

Peters Out?

We protect our election process by making sure anyone who violates it faces accountability. Sometimes that means professional consequences . And sometimes, when the conduct breaks the law, accountability means prison time.?

Tina Peters is an Election Denier and the former clerk of Mesa County, Colorado. In 2021, she compromised her county’s election equipment, allowing a man posing as a county worker to copy sensitive files. Prosecutors and state officials said she wanted to become a hero to her fellow conspiracy theorists and prove that the 2020 election was rigged.??

Peters was quickly caught, the breached equipment was taken out of service , and no election was compromised. Now the consequences are here: In August, Peters was convicted of four felonies and three misdemeanors. This week, she was sentenced to nine years behind bars .?

In a blistering statement during the sentencing hearing, Judge Matthew Barrett called Peters a danger to the community. “You are no hero,” he said. “You’re a charlatan who used, and is still using, your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that’s been proven to be junk time and time again.”??

Colorado state officials have said all along that they won’t tolerate threats to the state’s secure elections. Tina Peters now knows that firsthand. She’ll have a long time to think about it.?

In the News?

• PolitiFact: Trump renews voter fraud claims as voting by mail begins. Here's why they are still false. ? ?

“We should call this what it is: Trump laying the groundwork so he can cast doubt on the 2024 results if he doesn’t win,” said Joanna Lydgate, CEO of the nonpartisan States United Democracy Center.? ?

• Media Matters for America: How “constitutional sheriffs” use right-wing media to promote the movement’s extremist talking points ? ?

The constitutional sheriff movement falsely asserts that sheriffs represent the highest law of the land, answering only to the U.S. Constitution and superseding any state or federal authority, including the president. … According to States United Democracy Center, “many aspects of sheriffs’ roles are controlled by state constitutions and/or statutory law, including their duties, compensation, terms of elections, and procedures for removal.”? ?

• Popular Information: How Republicans could subvert the 2024 election ? ?

This is part of a larger landscape of election deniers in positions of power across the country. According to a data tracker created by States United Action, there are 26 election deniers that hold statewide office and 172 election deniers in Congress.? ?

• The New York Times: Trump Allies Bombard the Courts, Setting Stage for Post-Election Fight ? ?

• The New York Times Magazine: If Trump Wins, Could He Really Use the Justice Department to Jail His Rivals? ? ?

• CNN: Fact check: 12 election lies Trump is using to set the stage to dispute a potential 2024 defeat ? ?
• CNN: Georgia Republicans sow doubt about Dominion voting machines in 2020 throwback ? ?
• 12News: Arizona voters affected by data glitch more than double to 218,000, but they won't lose voting rights, Secretary of State Fontes says ? ?

• Votebeat: ACLU asks U.S. Supreme Court to take up challenge to Pennsylvania’s mail ballot dating rule ? ?

• WISN: Wisconsin DOJ agents investigate Wausau mayor over ballot box relocation ?

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