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The New Mexico Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered Otero County commissioners in rural areas to do their job and certify election results, two days after they refused, citing unfounded fears of fraud.
The court granted the urgent proposal of the Secretary of State of New Mexico Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, who earlier this week asked the court to intervene and force the three-member board to approve the total number of votes from the June 7 primary. The commission voted on Monday not to do so.
The move potentially deprived “every Otero County voter who legally and safely cast their ballot” and harmed candidates “seeking their names to be included in the general election ballot” in November, Oliver said.
Oliver’s spokesman, Alex Curtas, said the service was also prosecuting a criminal referral to the attorney general, which could lead to the commissioners being accused of contempt of court or dismissed if they do not follow court instructions.
“This is terra nova; this is unexplored territory, “Kurtas said. “I hope it doesn’t get there.”
The commissioners’ refusal has put the 66,000-strong small county on the Texas border in the spotlight amid growing concerns about the long-term damage from former President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. … called the “big lie.”
Trump told a “big lie”, even though he was told that allegations of election fraud were untrue, say associates
The deadline for verifying the results of the primary elections is Friday. According to state law, district councils must prove that there were discrepancies in the election results if they refuse to certify the results; so far, commissioners have only said they are generally distrustful of civil servants and electronic voting machines.
The map shows the results of the primary election for one seat in the county state and several other positions, including a district court judge, a county assessor, and a county sheriff.
Otero County Commissioner Qui Griffin, who is due to be convicted this Friday of infiltrating the Capitol during the January 6, 2021 riots, said the board remains concerned about the security of the election even after three official audits of the 2020 results. the guerrilla review of “volunteers” showed no evidence of widespread fraud.
Griffin erroneously claims that the software on the machines has not been updated since 2011 – a bipartisan commission only certified the machines last year – and reiterated a denial that rumors that non-internet machines could be hacked.
“We have unanswered questions, and now we are threatened by the Secretary of State, who we have to certify anyway. It’s really unfair, “Griffin said. “I tell people that my oath is to the people I represent. I have not taken an oath before the state of New Mexico or their election laws. It is my duty to my office to ensure that people can sleep at night. It’s a non-partisan issue – whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, we all need to make sure our election is secure. “
Supporters of Trump have long been spreading false allegations that voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems – such as those used in New Mexico – have been tampered with. These lies are based in part on a Michigan County clerk’s election night mistake that led to a strong Republican district that briefly announced that Biden had defeated Trump. The mistake was quickly corrected to show that Trump won. But Trump’s allies continued to target the company.
Dominion officials have denied all allegations against the company, filing multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuits against various figures who spread the allegations. Yet MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a leading election denier, still often talks about wanting to see polling machines melted down and turned into prison bars to lock up election officials he falsely claims to have cast. Biden’s election.
The Otero vote is “another example of how lies about Dominion have damaged our company and reduced public confidence in the election,” said Stephanie Wallström, a spokeswoman for Dominion Voting Systems.
Alice Creights and Rosalind Helderman contributed to this report.
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