A Democrat has not won a seat on the county commission since 1994. Back-to-back hurricanes more likely to happen: Study, Monday Forecast: Break from the winds for a bit, No. SANTA FE, N.M. New Mexico's secretary of state on Tuesday asked the state Supreme Court to order the Republican-led commission of rural Otero County to certify primary election results after . I get emails from people all over the country who are concerned about this so its not just little Ol Otero county you know its going on everywhere. No financial transactions will be processed after 5:30 p.m. - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more. Vulnerabilities do exist, as with any technology, but election officials work to identify and fix them. Otero County's three-member commission had refused to do so Monday night, citing unfounded concerns regarding . That would ensure that the nearly 7,400 ballots that were cast in Otero County are recorded as legal votes. The Otero commissions Monday vote to refuse to certify the results raised fears among democracy advocates that the process of administering elections and reporting results could be disrupted during the midterms in November. Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin avoided jail time for participating in the Capitol riot at his federal sentencing today, and hours later voted to defy a New Mexico Supreme Court order directing the Otero County Commission to approve the vote count from the June 7 primary.. Griffin was the lone no vote on the council and the motion to approve the results passed 2-1. We are aware of the situation and aware of the concerns, and were preparing to fight it and hopefully win the battle.. State prosecutors accuse Griffin of a misdemeanor violation of failing to register as a political group, which is punishable by up to a year in prison and an additional $1,000 fine. Youre not elected by the secretary of state, youre elected by the people of Torrance County.. } DeAnza Lucero, center, tells a student from teacher Renee Butler's prekindergarten class how many more books he is able to get during the BOOKKIDS giveaway Tuesday at Nina Otero Community School. These demands should be met.. Ballotpedia features 395,397 encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers. In a statement, Olivers office said, the commission illegally refused to certify the results, potentially disenfranchising every Otero County voter who legally and securely cast a ballot and harming candidates seeking to have their names on the General Election ballot.. The conspiracy theories about Dominion voting machines that erupted during the 2020 presidential contest flared this week in a remote New Mexico county in what could be just a preview of the kind of chaos election experts fear is coming in the fall midterms and in 2024. Otero County is an outlier, a dark-red area in which a fervent Trump ally (and Jan. 6 participant) controls one-third of the seat of power. Click here to contact our editorial staff, and click here to report an error. New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said the commissioners were violating the law and their oaths of office in refusing to certify the vote. Included in those results was the revelation that of the 22% of the County canvassed, 41% of those had issues, including 30% who didn't live at the address (while 40% of those voted in the election), 4% of doors knocked were "ghost votes," and 2% of the votes were dropped. The secretary of states office prevailed in a June 2020 arbitration decision that ordered Cowboys for Trump to register as a political committee, file expenditure and contribution reports and pay a fine of $7,800. the disgraced former presidents fascist election-undermining schemes, sued the three-member Otero County Board of Commissioners, their reason for not certifying last weeks primary results, convicted in March of illegally entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds, Ginni Thomas is once again the main character of American politics, A decade of DACA: Why it's both a gift and a curse to millions, Biden beefs with oil companies over record profits, Elizabeth Warren lays out the stakes of Bidens student loan plan. Otero County Results 66 out of 66 Precincts Reporting 100% United States Representative DISTRICT 1 Follow This Contest Export Precincts Fully: 766 / 766 | Partially: 0 / 766 MELANIE ANN STANSBURY Democrat 0 104 MICHELLE GARCIA HOLMES Republican 0 54 VICTORIA L GONZALES (write in) Independent 0 0 total votes 158 Board of Registration is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 beginning at 10:00 a.m. at the Otero County Clerks Office. The commissioners are set to meet again on Friday. chevron.removeClass('fa-chevron-up'); Was early voting available to all voters? Those steps, widely believed to be illegal, came at the urging of Cuoy Griffin, an Otero County commissioner who was convicted in March of illegally entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds during the Jan. 6 attack. VoterInfobyState_Resized = true; The effort prompted a warning from state officials, with Oliver dubbing it a vigilante audit. Eventually the audit fell apart; a settlement agreement that EchoMail reached with the county showed that the company found No Election Fraud as a result of their services.. It is headquartered in Albuquerque and led by Chair Steve Pearce, Vice Chair Frank Trambley, Secretary Mari Trujillo Spinelli, and Treasurer David Chavez.. chevron.addClass('fa-chevron-down'); How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Magda Jean-Louis and Tom Jackman contributed to this report from Washington. } The company said in a statement Wednesday that the action by the Otero County commissioners was "yet another example of how lies about Dominion have damaged our company and diminished the public's faith in elections.". POLITICO's coverage of 2022 races for Senate, House, Governors and Key Ballot Measures. Its about protecting donors.. $("div.vis_widget_title").each(function(index) { By law, county commissions in New Mexico are required to approve the primary results by June 17 unless they can point to a specific problem that occurred during voting for that election. chevron = $(this).find('i.fa-pull-right'); Updated: May 11, 2022 / 04:07 PM MDT NEW MEXICO (KRQE) - The group conducting an audit of the 2020 election results in Otero County presented their initial findings Monday night, with one. Unofficial Election Results. The governing commission in Otero County refused to certify the local results of the state's June 7 primary because of the equipment, in what was seen as another instance of how the. Otero County, with a population of about 67,000, went for Trump by nearly 62% in 2020. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Commissioners in a second county, Torrance, who had delayed certification earlier this week, voted to approve the vote totals in a contentious public hearing Friday morning. Ja'han Jones is The ReidOut Blog writer. Trump and his acolytes have long claimed that Dominion Voting Systems machines like those used in New Mexico are flawed. Doctors are prescribing Ozempic, Mounjaro off label for weight loss: Is that allowed? falsehoods spread by former President Donald Trump, Cowboys for Trump co-founder Couy Griffin, election deniers are running for positions. The commissioners in the conservative, pro-Trump county could point to no actual problems with the Dominion equipment. New Mexico held its primaries last week for a gubernatorial election and some local races, but commissioners in Otero Countyhome to about 68,000 people voted 3-0 against certifying the. Donald Trump announced his 2024 presidential campaign shortly after the midterms. Those people won the election fairly.. All the data is available to you you can see where ghost voters were confirmed, said Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin. Counties must certify results so nominees' names can be placed on the. Results will become available after 7 PM on Election Day, November 2, 2021 and will be posted as they are received from the county offices. State law gives county officials no more than 10 days after an election to certify results. Numerous procedures are in place, including pre- and post-testing of voting equipment and post-election audits that ensure machines are working properly. Public policy. U.S. Congress | } else { His previous projects include "Black Hair Defined" and the "Black Obituary Project.". 2022 General Election Official Results NM Voter Information Portal NOTICE Our Board of Registration is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 beginning at 10:00 a.m. at the Otero County Clerk's Office. I dont think thats what the voters of Otero County want is to have us replaced.. Couy Griffin is another member of the commission who voted against certifying the election results. The Secretary of States Office also requested the New Mexico Attorney Generals Office open a criminal investigation into the actions of the board as Toulouse Oliver argued they violated commissioners duties of office. One of the commissioners is Cowboys for Trump co-founder Couy Griffin, who was convicted of entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds - though not the building - during the Jan. 6 uprising. The New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver has now sent a letter to the Attorney General of New Mexico calling for a criminal and civil investigation into the Otero County Commissioners. widget_load_check_dom() However, Commissioner Griffin is also scheduled to be sentenced for his involvement in the January 6 attack on the capital on Friday as well. In his remarks, Griffin refused to back down from assertions that the machines were not secure or apologize for leading a charge against a normally straightforward procedural vote that caused a week-long uproar. Chapin outlasts Parkland to go to 3rd straight Sweet, Crash in Central El Paso sends 3 people to hospital, Round table on public safety after high-profile, Bryant family gets $28.85M over crash photos, Nearly half of US murders going unsolved, data show, 9 day forecast: Winter storm may produce snow this, Tuesday Forecast: Warm and windy conditions, 9 day Forecast: Strong back-to-back winds this week. Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more. Election Information | Otero County, NM Government Services Residents Business How Do I. Why Herschel Walker might be the most embarrassing 2022 loss for Trump. All I wanted to do was speak on behalf of an America First agenda, which should all be protected under the First Amendment, he said. Marquardt said shed rather vote for the certification, begrudgingly, than be removed from office, imprisoned and replaced by an appointee of Gov.