A MAGA County’s Top Election Official Wants to Hire Election Denial Superstar Tina Peters
A MAGA County’s Top Election Official Wants to Hire Election Denial Superstar Tina Peters
一个“MAGA”县的最高选举官员想要聘请选举否认论巨星蒂娜·彼得斯
Last week, Clint Curtis, the top election official in Shasta County, California, publicly accused members of his own staff of bypassing security, which he later claimed was an attempt “to sabotage a federal election.” 上周，加利福尼亚州沙斯塔县（Shasta County）的最高选举官员克林特·柯蒂斯（Clint Curtis）公开指责其下属绕过安保措施，他随后声称这是试图“破坏联邦选举”的行为。
Days later, Curtis announced plans to hire a new deputy: Tina Peters, the election denial superstar who was convicted of seven counts related to election interference in 2024 and sentenced to nine years in prison. 几天后，柯蒂斯宣布计划聘请一位新副手：蒂娜·彼得斯（Tina Peters）。这位“选举否认论”巨星曾在2024年因与选举干预相关的七项罪名被定罪，并被判处九年监禁。
Peters, the former clerk of Mesa County, Colorado, has yet to publicly comment on the offer, but her lawyer Peter Ticktin tells WIRED she “is giving consideration to helping in the efforts in Shasta County, as there most definitely has been monkey business in the way the election was handled.” 作为科罗拉多州梅萨县（Mesa County）的前书记官，彼得斯尚未公开回应这一聘用提议，但她的律师彼得·蒂克廷（Peter Ticktin）告诉《连线》（WIRED）杂志，她“正在考虑协助沙斯塔县的工作，因为那里的选举处理方式绝对存在猫腻。”
Peters was convicted after she allowed Conan Hayes, a former pro surfer who later worked for pillow salesman turned election denier Mike Lindell, unauthorized access to election equipment in Mesa County as part of a scheme to prove that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Donald Trump. (Hayes was never charged for his role in the scheme). 彼得斯被定罪的原因是她允许前职业冲浪选手柯南·海耶斯（Conan Hayes）未经授权接触梅萨县的选举设备。海耶斯后来为从枕头推销员转型为“选举否认者”的迈克·林德尔（Mike Lindell）工作，此举是他们试图证明2020年总统大选从唐纳德·特朗普手中被窃取的一项计划的一部分。（海耶斯从未因在该计划中的角色而被起诉）。
Colorado governor Jared Polis commuted Peters’ sentence in May after months of pressure from President Trump, who purported to have issued his own pardon even though Peters was convicted on state charges. Recently released court papers show how Trump and his advisers coordinated with federal agencies to cut federal funding and grants to Colorado as part of a pressure campaign to free Peters. 在总统特朗普数月的施压下，科罗拉多州州长贾里德·波利斯（Jared Polis）于5月减免了彼得斯的刑期。尽管彼得斯是被州级罪名定罪，但特朗普声称自己已经发布了赦免令。最近公布的法庭文件显示，特朗普及其顾问如何与联邦机构协调，通过削减对科罗拉多州的联邦资金和拨款，作为释放彼得斯的施压运动的一部分。
Curtis told The Guardian that Peters would not have access to the county’s voting system but refused to specify what her duties would include. Curtis did not respond to a request for comment. 柯蒂斯告诉《卫报》，彼得斯将无法接触该县的投票系统，但他拒绝说明她的具体职责。柯蒂斯未回应置评请求。
Should Peters accept the role, she would likely feel right at home in Shasta County, a deep-red enclave in Northern California that has become ground zero for many of the election denial conspiracy theories promoted by Trump and his supporters over the past six years. And in Curtis, she would be working alongside a man who has a decades-long history of promoting many of the same election-related conspiracy theories she herself has championed. 如果彼得斯接受这一职位，她很可能会在沙斯塔县感到如鱼得水。这个位于北加州的深红选区，已成为过去六年来特朗普及其支持者所宣扬的许多选举否认阴谋论的“震中”。而与柯蒂斯共事，意味着她将与一位有着数十年历史、一直在宣扬她本人所支持的许多选举相关阴谋论的人并肩工作。
“This should be stopped immediately: Shasta County Registrar Clint Curtis is trying to hire election-denier Tina Peters to collude with the Trump administration’s election mischief,” US senator Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, wrote on Facebook. “这必须立即停止：沙斯塔县选举登记官克林特·柯蒂斯正试图聘请选举否认者蒂娜·彼得斯，与特朗普政府的选举恶作剧相勾结，”加州民主党联邦参议员亚历克斯·帕迪利亚（Alex Padilla）在Facebook上写道。
Curtis first came to national prominence more than two decades ago, when he claimed to have created a software program that could rig elections without election officials being able to notice anything amiss. Curtis, who testified before Congress about his program, said he did this at the behest of Florida state lawmaker Tom Feeney, who denied the claim. 柯蒂斯在二十多年前首次引起全国关注，当时他声称自己开发了一种软件程序，可以在选举官员无法察觉的情况下操纵选举。柯蒂斯曾就该程序在国会作证，并称他是受佛罗里达州议员汤姆·菲尼（Tom Feeney）的指使，但菲尼否认了这一说法。
In 2025, when the previous Registrar of Voters in Shasta County, Thomas Toller, retired midterm, Curtis put his name forward for the position, despite having no experience in running elections and spending most of his career working as a lawyer and a computer developer. He also lived in Florida at the time and had no ties to the area. 2025年，当沙斯塔县前选举登记官托马斯·托勒（Thomas Toller）在任期中途退休时，柯蒂斯申请了该职位，尽管他没有任何管理选举的经验，且职业生涯大部分时间是担任律师和计算机开发人员。当时他甚至还住在佛罗里达州，与该地区毫无关联。
During the 2025 interview process for his current role, Curtis touted his associations with prominent figures in the election denial community, including Lindell, disgraced former national security adviser Mike Flynn, and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. 在2025年竞聘现职的面试过程中，柯蒂斯吹嘘自己与选举否认圈内知名人物的关系，包括林德尔、名誉扫地的国家安全顾问迈克·弗林（Mike Flynn）以及前特朗普顾问史蒂夫·班农（Steve Bannon）。
Since his appointment, Curtis has faced a string of accusations about his behavior from members of his staff. An internal investigation concluded that he had physically threatened, verbally abused, and retaliated against staff at the Shasta County Elections Office, while an external investigation found he had retaliated against them. Among the specific allegations made by his colleagues were that Curtis threatened to have one employee dragged out by her hair and to “throat-punch” another. Curtis has consistently denied the allegations. 自上任以来，柯蒂斯因其行为面临下属的一连串指控。一项内部调查得出结论，他曾对沙斯塔县选举办公室的工作人员进行人身威胁、言语辱骂和报复，而一项外部调查也证实他确实存在报复行为。同事们提出的具体指控包括：柯蒂斯曾威胁要揪住一名员工的头发将其拖出去，并威胁要“重击”另一名员工的喉咙。柯蒂斯始终否认这些指控。
In June, Curtis lost his bid to keep his job past this year when Joanna Francescut, who worked in elections in Shasta County for 18 years, easily defeated him. Curtis had fired Francescut days after he took up his role. 今年6月，柯蒂斯在争取连任的竞选中败给了乔安娜·弗朗西斯库特（Joanna Francescut），后者在沙斯塔县选举部门工作了18年，轻松击败了他。柯蒂斯曾在上任后几天内就解雇了弗朗西斯库特。
The Board of Supervisors in Shasta County, having initially voted against censuring Curtis, last week voted 3-1 to censure him. However, Curtis responded to the public rebuke by making further allegations against his staff, including claims that they were bypassing security to tamper with elections. He subsequently invited the media back to his office to show them CCTV footage of one staff member opening a door without using a keycard. 沙斯塔县监事会最初投票反对谴责柯蒂斯，但上周以3比1的投票结果通过了对他的谴责。然而，柯蒂斯对这一公开谴责的回应是进一步指控其员工，声称他们绕过安保措施篡改选举。随后，他邀请媒体回到办公室，向他们展示了一段监控录像，显示一名员工在未刷卡的情况下打开了一扇门。
When asked if he had asked the employee in question what he was doing, Curtis said he hadn’t. 当被问及是否询问过该员工当时在做什么时，柯蒂斯表示他没有。
“Shasta County has gone through a lot of controversy, division, and animosity related to elections, and based on the initial response from the public I’ve received already, recruiting Tina Peters would increase this and reduce trust in our elections,” Matt Plummer, a member of the Shasta Board of Supervisors, tells WIRED, while acknowledging Curtis has the authority to make his own hiring decisions. The other members did not respond to a request for comment. “沙斯塔县在选举问题上经历了许多争议、分裂和敌意。根据我目前收到的公众初步反应，聘用蒂娜·彼得斯只会加剧这种情况，并降低人们对我们选举的信任，”沙斯塔县监事会成员马特·普卢默（Matt Plummer）告诉《连线》杂志，同时他也承认柯蒂斯有权做出自己的聘用决定。其他成员未回应置评请求。
Plummer isn’t the only authority raising questions about the proposal. Stewart Buettell, the deputy CEO of the County of Shasta, tells WIRED, “There has been no formal process or application submitted to replace the current assistant registrar of voters,” adding that “any prospective employee would go through the same hiring process as anyone else seeking employment with the county.” 普卢默并不是唯一对该提议提出质疑的官员。沙斯塔县副首席执行官斯图尔特·布特尔（Stewart Buettell）告诉《连线》：“目前没有任何更换现任助理选举登记官的正式流程或申请，”并补充说，“任何潜在员工都必须像其他寻求县政府工作的人一样，经过相同的招聘程序。”
Brent Turner, the current assistant registrar of voters, told Shasta Scout on Tuesday that he was surprised to hear he may be replaced. “I believe I’m the assistant registrar. And if anything changes I will certainly let you know,” said Turner. 现任助理选举登记官布伦特·特纳（Brent Turner）周二告诉《沙斯塔侦察报》（Shasta Scout），他很惊讶听说自己可能被替换。“我相信我还是助理登记官。如果有任何变动，我一定会通知你们，”特纳说。
Curtis told the Redding Record Searchlight that he would be hiring Peters as a consultant as a way of circumventing what he predicted would be the county’s efforts to block the appointment. He said that as a consultant, she would be able to continue to work in Colorado and Wash 柯蒂斯告诉《雷丁记录探照灯报》（Redding Record Searchlight），他将聘请彼得斯担任顾问，以此绕过他预料中县政府为阻止该任命而采取的行动。他说，作为顾问，她将能够继续在科罗拉多州和华盛顿州工作。