SANTA FE, NM (AP) – A showdown between the Republican-dominated Democratic Commission and New Mexico’s Democratic secretary of state over a conspiracy-fueled refusal by the commission to certify election results escalated Thursday with a threat from the state’s attorney general.
The meeting took place on the eve of the deadline for certifying the results of the June 7 primary elections. He also provided a shining example of the chaos warned by election experts, as those who promote the lie that former President Donald Trump was deceived in re-election seek to populate local polls and usually low-profile councils that certify results. .
The Otero County Steering Committee declined to verify local results of the state’s primary because of unspecified equipment concerns, although it did not identify problems with the Dominion systems used by the county to count ballots.
The attorney general of New Mexico told the commission to carry out an order from the state’s Supreme Court to verify the results. A spokesman for Attorney General Hector Balderas said the Otero County Commission in southern New Mexico “must uphold the rule of law or we will take legal action.”
The Secretary of State asked the Attorney General to investigate the commission for possible violations of the laws on state elections and government ethics, which could be crimes if the act is intentional and leads to dismissal.
At least one of the three county commissioners was not concerned. Commissioner Qui Griffin told CNN he had no plans to vote for certification.
“Why have a commission if we are just repealed by the judiciary?” He said.
It was not immediately clear what would happen if the county refused to certify its results, which is a typical ministerial commitment, but it caught the spotlight after Trump tried to put pressure on some certification councils after the 2020 presidential election.
Developments in New Mexico can be traced back to far-right conspiracy theories about voting machines that have spread across the country over the past two years. Various allies of Trump claim that Dominion’s voting systems have been manipulated in some way as part of a complex scheme to steal the election that President Joe Biden won.
There is no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulation of voting equipment that could affect the outcome of the 2020 elections.
Dominion has filed several defamation lawsuits, including against Fox News, and a statement earlier this week said Otero County Commissioners’ actions were “another example of how lies about Dominion have harmed our company and reduced faith.” to the public in elections. “
Otero County Governor Robin Holmes, a Republican in her fourth term as the county’s chief election administrator, told the Associated Press that the June 7 primary was run smoothly. The machine counts in 16 polling stations corresponded to the number of ballots distributed.
“The first team went smoothly,” she said. “It was a great election.”
Trump won nearly 62% of the vote in 2020 in Otero County, where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by nearly 2-1. A Democrat has not won a seat on the district committee since 1994.
Federal government disobedience and oversight of public lands are key policy elements in the predominantly rural Otero district, which spans three times the size of Delaware and includes part of the White Sands missile range, the site of the first atomic bomb test. .
The problem will deepen on Friday as New Mexico counties face midnight to verify their election results.
So far, all but six of New Mexico’s 33 counties have verified their results, and no other county official has said publicly that he intends to vote against the certification.
In the politically conservative county of Torrance, commissioners scheduled discussions on Friday on “the integrity of the election” and the potential for litigation, along with a vote on whether to verify the results of the primary election.
Otero County Attorney Roy Nichols said the commission there had scheduled an emergency meeting before the deadline. He said he could not speak on behalf of the commissioners and that it was unclear whether they would vote to certify the results. Two out of three commissioners must vote in favor of certification.
This is potentially important because it is unclear whether Griffin will even be in New Mexico to attend Friday’s meeting. He must also be convicted in the U.S. District Court in Washington after being convicted of entering limited areas of the U.S. Capitol – though not the building – during the January 6 uprising.
U.S. election officials have notified the sentencing judge of Griffin’s refusal to certify the results of the primary election in New Mexico.
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Brian reported from Albuquerque. Associated Press writers Christina Almeida Cassidy in Atlanta; Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada; and Terry Tang of Phoenix contributed to this report.
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