Former Colorado elections clerk Tina Peters and her attorney, Peter Ticktin, met with President Donald Trump at the White House in October 2026 to advocate for federal law enforcement intervention in the midterm elections. According to reports from MSNOW and Axios, the pair urged the president to issue an emergency order that Ticktin described as "tantamount to martial law" to investigate vote counting and secure election equipment.
Peters previously served as the clerk for Mesa County, Colorado, from 2018 to 2023. She was convicted in August 2024 on seven of 10 charges, including four felonies, related to a 2021 breach of voting equipment. Though she was sentenced to nine years in prison in October 2024, Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) commuted her sentence in May 2026, calling the term unusual for a first-time, nonviolent offender. Peters has maintained her innocence, stating her actions were intended to expose fraud in the 2020 election.
In her comments to MSNOW, Peters stated that the president possesses the authority to deploy the Attorney General’s office or other law enforcement to investigate election matters of a "criminal in nature" without seeking Congressional approval. Ticktin told Axios that such measures, including the "commandeering of ballots," would be necessary to prevent a "rigged election." White House spokesperson Lauren Bis declined to comment on the reported meeting, stating the administration does not discuss private meetings.
The scale of this proposal involves the administration of the 2026 midterm elections, which determine the composition of the U.S. Congress. If implemented, federal agents could be authorized to seize equipment or ballots, a process that usually requires local clerks to maintain a strict chain of custody. For an individual voter, this could mean that the verification of their ballot is subject to a federal criminal investigation rather than standard local canvassing procedures. Such a change would be noticed during the post-election period as results are certified.
Knock-on effects include potential conflicts between state election laws and federal executive orders, creating uncertainty for state secretaries of state who certify results. The move would test the limits of executive power and the precedent set by the 2025 federal court ruling. As the midterm elections are scheduled for Tuesday, November 3, 2026, any attempts to implement these emergency orders would likely occur in the days following the vote. What happens next depends on whether President Trump acts on these recommendations and how the court system responds to potential emergency filings.