YOU FAILED DEMOCRACY

Governor Polis, Your decision to commute Tina Peters’ sentence was a profound failure of political judgment and democratic responsibility. This was not a case of someone unfairly persecuted for speech. Tina Peters was convicted by a jury for actions that compromised election security and helped fuel one of the most dangerous anti-democratic movements in modern American history. The Colorado Court of Appeals upheld her conviction. Yet you chose to intervene before the judicial process had even completed itself. That decision sends a devastating message: that officials who abuse public trust in service of election conspiracy theories can ultimately expect political rescue. At a time when confidence in democratic institutions is already fragile, your action legitimizes the exact culture of election denialism that continues to poison this country. Peters was not remorseful in any meaningful civic sense. Her lawyer has even said so! Tina’s conduct spread distrust, conspiracy thinking, and contempt for verified election outcomes. The damage from those lies does not end with one county clerk or one breach of voting systems. It echoes outward into threats against election workers, distrust in democratic outcomes, and a normalization of authoritarian thinking. You defended this decision as a concern about sentencing fairness for a nonviolent offender. But public office carries public responsibility. When someone entrusted with safeguarding elections instead undermines them from within, accountability matters precisely because democracy itself depends on it. We will remember this moment clearly. We will remember that when faced with a choice between defending institutional accountability or softening consequences for a prominent election denier, you chose the latter. We will remember that this happened while national political pressure mounted from Donald Trump and his allies. And we will remember this decision when you inevitably seek higher office, including a presidential campaign. Leadership is not measured by whether you can appear above conflict. It is measured by whether you are willing to defend democratic norms when doing so is politically uncomfortable. In this instance, you miserably failed that test.