Shasta County plans to hire convicted election official Tina Peters

Clint Curtis, the registrar of voters for Shasta County, California, plans to hire Tina Peters as an assistant registrar next month. Peters is a former election official from Mesa County, Colorado, who was convicted of seven felonies, including identity theft and stealing voting system software during a 2021 breach.

U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff have expressed “grave concern” regarding the appointment. In a letter to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, the senators urged close oversight of the hiring, noting that the position could grant Peters influence over critical processes like ballot counting.

Curtis stated the hiring is intended to assist the FBI and Department of Homeland Security in accessing ballots, a justification that Padilla and Schiff suggest may conflict with state and federal laws. Peters’ sentence was previously commuted by Colorado Governor Jared Polis following pressure from the Trump administration.