The Colorado Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to consider an appeal filed by Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters attempting to reverse a ruling that prohibits her from overseeing the November election.

The unsigned order lets a district court ruling issued last week stand. The order forbids Peters and her deputy from having any involvement with the county’s election, citing allegations they were involved in election data security breaches that have spawned multiple criminal investigations.

“With the supreme court’s decision, Clerk Peters remains barred from any involvement in this election,” said Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold in a written statement. “As secretary of state, I will always work to provide accessible and secure elections for all eligible Coloradans.”

Griswold, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit in late August to keep Peters, a Republican, and Deputy Clerk Belinda Knisley from having a hand in the fall election, which has been underway for weeks, citing allegations the two allowed an unauthorized person to participate in a routine update of the county’s voting system software and then lied about it as part of a scheme to expose alleged election irregularities.

Mesa County District Court Judge Valerie J. Robison agreed with Griswold in an Oct. 13 ruling that was appealed on Monday by Peters, who called Griswold’s attempt to replace her as the county’s designated election official a “power grab” and a “stunning abuse of office” that threatened local control over elections.

In the appeal, former Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler, representing Peters, argued the judge acted outside authority granted by state statutes and case law.

Robison’s ruling also confirmed that former Secretary of State Wayne Williams and Mesa County Treasurer Sheila Reiner, both Republicans, can continue running the election under temporary appointments made in August by Griswold and the county’s board of commissioners.

Neither Peters nor Gessler responded to emails requesting comment.

It’s the latest development in a controversy that has been unfolding for months in the Western Slope county, where Peters has been pushing a groundless theory that Denver-based Dominion Election Systems equipment – used by 62 of Colorado’s 64 counties, including Mesa County – was somehow used to steal the 2020 election from former President Donald Trump.

Griswold ordered Mesa County to replace its election equipment in early August after system passwords appeared on right-wing websites. Days later, exact digital copies of the county’s election system hard drive also showed up online after Griswold’s staff discovered that 24-hour video surveillance of the election equipment had been turned off.

Amid the furor over the data breach, Peters appeared at an event in South Dakota sponsored by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a chief purveyor of discredited theories surrounding last year’s election. Lindell later claimed he was helping keep Peters safe in various locations, including a Texas hotel, for weeks, until Peters returned to Mesa County in late September.

Knisley was charged in September with felony burglary and misdemeanor cybercrime charges that are only loosely tied to the alleged security breaches authorities say she and Peters helped facilitate.

She has been ordered to stay away from the clerk’s office while the county investigates complaints she created a hostile work environment, reportedly by telling fellow employees not to cooperate with the data breach investigations.

Mesa County’s district attorney, the Colorado attorney general’s office and the FBI have all confirmed that they are investigating the data breach.