It shouldn't be controversial in this, the year of our Lord 2022, that a person who kicks a cop in a bagel shop is probably unfit to hold public office. And yesterday a judge made it official, permanently relieving Tina Peters, the Mesa County, Colorado, election clerk, of her official duties.

But not for this bullshit, egregious as it was.

Peters is the wackaloon made famous by MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell when she showed up at his cyber fraud hootenanny hoedown with "evidence" of "fraud" she'd obtained by illegally harvesting data from her county's Dominion voting machines. Subsequently it emerged that she'd snuck some rando into the elections office to examine the machines, after her assistant Belinda Knisley deactivated the security cameras.

And then the story got even weirder!

According to the charging document, Peters and Knisley ran a background check on some guy named Jerry Woods, whom they purported to be intending to hire as a tech contractor, then gave his ID to someone else. Peters then claimed that the fake "Jerry Woods" was an employee who had just come over to her office from the Motor Vehicle division, and allowed him to participate in the restricted-access manual update of the voting machines by Dominion personnel. The pair is facing a shit-ton of charges, including identity theft, and both are barred from entering the Mesa County Clerk and Recorders Office, or even having any contact with its employees. Which would make it rather difficult for them to officiate elections come November, assuming they're not guests of the state of Colorado by then.

There's also the minor matter of Peters allegedly recording a court hearing with her iPad, and then assaulting a cop when he showed up with a warrant to seize the device. Oh, and also Peters is running to be secretary of state, so she can get rid of all the electoral fraud that doesn't exist, and we know it doesn't exist, because the Mesa County Board of Commissioners spent "north of $100,000" investigating Peters's fraud allegations and replacing the machines damaged in her little crime spree.

Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold sued, seeking a court order that Peters and Knisley are unable to perform the functions of the Designated Election Official (DEO) in the upcoming 2022 election. And yesterday, 21st Judicial District Judge Valerie Robison gave it to them, entering an injunction prohibiting the pair from performing the function of DEO. The court further enjoined Julie Fisher, their buddy from the Motor Vehicle Division (for real, not like "Jerry Woods"), from acting as DEO, despite Peters's efforts to hand the position off to her. The court allowed the Board's designated DEO, Brandi Bantz, who has decades of election experience, to assume the role.

"[T]he Court determines that the Petitioners have met the burden of showing that Peters and Knisley have committed a neglect of duty and are unable to perform the duties of the Mesa County Designated Election Official," Judge Robison wrote. "The Court further determines that substantial compliance with the provisions of the Election Code requires an injunction prohibiting Peters and Knisley from performing the duties of the Designated Election Official."

Well, it's probably for the best. The Wonder Twins probably need to devote most of their time to preparing for their upcoming trials. God bless, ladies!

[Denver Post / Injunction via Courthouse News]

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