Out-of-state donors are covering the majority of the cost of Tina Peters’ recount in the GOP Secretary of State primary race.
Peters raised $351,000 on July 25, the same day she appeared on Steve Bannon’s podcast to appeal for funding for her recount efforts, according to her recent campaign finance filing.
Of that money, $276,000 came from out-of-state donors.
The influx of money arrived just days before Peters was required to turn in $256,000 for the recount.
Peters lost June's Republican primary for Secretary of State by 88,579 votes, or around 14 points, coming in second behind former Jefferson county clerk Pamela Anderson. State rules say candidates must pay for any requested recount when the margin is more than 0.5 percent. The Secretary of State’s office says Peters’ recount will be finished by Aug. 4.
Nearly 70 people donated more than a thousand dollars to the Peters campaign during the period in which Peters was raising money for the recount. An individual can donate a maximum of $1,250 during the election cycle in the Secretary of State’s race.
Candidates can accept contributions throughout the entire election cycle even if they have lost. So that means Peters is legally allowed to accept donations until Dec. 8, 2022.
Peters has made election fraud the centerpiece of her campaign for Secretary of State and on election night told her supporters, “we didn’t lose. We just found out more fraud.”
Even as she contests the results of her own election, Peters has an arraignment hearing in Mesa County on charges that she tampered with her county’s voting equipment in her effort to try to uncover evidence of unsubstantiated claims of a stolen 2020 presidential election.
Peters has maintained that she did nothing illegal and was simply trying to investigate fraud claims to provide more confidence in the voting systems. A judge already barred Peters, who is currently the Mesa County Clerk, from overseeing the county’s fall midterm election.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to fix an incorrect date.
