Democratic Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver on Tuesday asked the state Supreme Court to order the Otero County three-member commission to certify the results of the June 7 by-elections to ensure voters are not deprived of their right to vote. candidates have access to the November general election. On Monday, the committee in its role as county council voted unanimously against certifying the results of the qualifiers without raising specific concerns about discrepancies regarding the county secretary’s objection. “I have huge concerns with these voting machines,” Otero County Commissioner Vickie Marquardt said Monday. “When I certify things that I do not know are right, I feel dishonest because in my heart I do not know if they are right.” Dominion’s systems have been unjustifiably attacked since the 2020 election by people who held the false belief that the election was stolen by former President Donald Trump. The company has filed defamation lawsuits in response to false and outrageous allegations made by high-profile Trump allies. New Mexico Dominion machines have been repeatedly underestimated by Las Cruces David and Erin Clements during their review of the 2020 Otero county and voter registration lists at the request of the committee. Clements are touring advocates for “forensic” reviews of the 2020 election and offer their services as election experts and auditors to local governments. Election officials, including County Robyn Holmes, say the Clements are not certified auditors or election protocol experts. The couple has pointed out problems during sporadic, long hours of committee presentations this year. Local voters question many of the findings as inaccurate or unfounded. Otero County committee members include Cowboys for Trump co-founder Couy Griffin, who alleges unfounded allegations that Trump won the 2020 election. building— amid riots on January 6, 2021, and a sentence is scheduled for later this month. He acknowledged that the controversy over these qualifiers could delay the outcome of local elections. The county councils have until June 17 to certify the election results, prior to state certification and the preparation of general election ballots. Under state law, county boards can convene a voting committee to address specific discrepancies, but no differences were identified Monday by the Otero committee. “The post-election process is a key component of how we maintain our high levels of electoral integrity in New Mexico, and the Otero County Committee demonstrates this process by appeasing baseless conspiracy theories and possibly annulling the votes of every Otero county voter.” “qualifiers,” Toulouse-Oliver said in a statement. He accused the commission of deliberate violations of the state electoral code. New Mexico uses paper ballots that can be double-checked later in all elections and also relies on sorting machines to count votes quickly while minimizing human error. Election results are also checked by random sampling to verify the accuracy of vote counting. The Otero County Committee voted last week to recount ballots from state-wide primaries by hand, remove state-mandated ballots that facilitate absentee voting, and stop using Domin counting machines. general elections. On Monday, Holmes said those instructions from county committees run counter to state and federal election law and that she would recount the election only by hand after a court ruling. “The election law does not allow me to count these ballots or even form a council to do so. “I just can not,” said Holmes, a Republican. “And I will follow the law.” Holmes noted that Dominion’s state counting machines are publicly controlled by Otero County officials and that the machines are also independently pre-certified. Griffin said he and other commissioners did not see the process as credible. “This is a source we have no control over or influence,” he said. Mario Jimenez of the Common Cause New Mexico progressive monitoring team said the public could see counting machine tests before the county elections and that certification notices were posted on each machine where voters could see them. “They have no basis – other than ‘we just do not trust the machine’ – for not certifying the election,” Jimenez told Otero County commissioners. Although Trump won nearly 62 percent of the vote in Otero County in 2020, county commissioners said they were unhappy with the results of the state vote count nor with the assurances of their Republican Republican candidate that the election this year will be accurate. County commissioners could not immediately be reached for comment. Commissioner Marquardt laughed Monday at the suggestion that a court could intervene in the election dispute. “And then what? Will they send us to pokey? ” he said.
