“I have no plans to step down,” Otero County Commissioner Qui Griffin said in a telephone interview with CNN on Thursday. “Why have a commission if our judiciary is simply being abolished?”
The state’s Supreme Court on Wednesday, acting at the urging of New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, ordered Otero County commissioners to certify initial results by Friday, the county’s statutory deadline for certification. Commissioners declined to do so earlier in the week, citing distrust of Dominion voting machines.
Commission President Vicki Marquard and Commissioner Gerald Matterley have not responded to CNN’s inquiries and it is unclear how they intend to vote.
Griffin, founder of Cowboys for Trump, was found guilty in a March trial of violating the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, while then-Vice President Mike Pence was there. He is due to be convicted in Washington on Friday.
On Thursday, Griffin told CNN that he was “not trying to cancel the election. We want transparency.”
“The more they try to fight us and imprison us,” he said, “the more skeptical I will become.”
Otero County is one of the first known communities to refrain from verifying election results. The controversy in this 68,000-strong Republican stronghold has raised concerns among voting rights experts that conspiracy theories about voting machines and other aspects of the election administration have taken root in some pockets of the country and could further disrupt the country. autumn.
Commissioners cited concerns about Dominion voting machines, declining to confirm the results of Monday’s meeting.
“I have huge concerns about these voting machines,” Marquard said at the time. “I really do. I just don’t think in my heart that they can’t be manipulated.”
On Thursday, Oliver asked the state’s attorney general to investigate the commission for several recent actions.
Referring to Attorney General Hector Balderas, a fellow Democrat, Oliver said members of the Otero County Commission had taken “numerous illegal actions” this month – including refusing to certify the results of the June 7 primary, ordering the removal of the ballot. ballot boxes and voting to end the use of counting machines.
“All county officials take an oath to abide by New Mexico’s constitution and laws,” Oliver said in a press release. “Otero County Commissioners have violated public confidence and our state laws through their recent actions and must be held accountable.
Griffin was a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, and he and other Otero commissioners earlier this year authorized a third-party review of the county’s 2020 election results. It included an “audit team” of volunteers who went door-to-door. to question voters. Trump won the county by more than 25 points in 2020. A U.S. House oversight committee has asked the Justice Department to investigate door-to-door campaigning in Otero County, citing the potential to intimidate voters.
In a statement this week, a Dominion spokesman called the Otero controversy “another example of how the Dominion lies have harmed our company and reduced public confidence in the election.”
This story and title have been updated.
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