{"id":39961,"date":"2022-06-17T16:20:29","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T22:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/screams-threats-as-new-mexico-counties-try-to-certify-vote\/"},"modified":"2022-06-17T22:20:29","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T22:20:29","slug":"screams-threats-as-new-mexico-counties-try-to-certify-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/screams-threats-as-new-mexico-counties-try-to-certify-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Screams, threats as New Mexico counties try to certify vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Otero
Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin speaks to reporters as he arrives at federal court in Washington on Friday. Griffin, who is a central figure in his county\u2019s refusal to certify recent election results based on debunked conspiracy theories about voting machines, has avoided more jail time for joining the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol. He was sentenced to 14 days behind bars, which he has already served. (Gemunu Amarasinghe\/Associated Press)<\/span>Gemunu Amarasinghe<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ALBUQUERQUE \u2013 Deep-seated conspiracy theories about the security of voting machines erupted into heated, angry and at times threatening outbursts Friday as New Mexico counties decided whether to certify results from their recent primary, underscoring the depths of an election crisis that officials fear is foreshadowing darker times ahead for the nation\u2019s democracy.<\/p>\n

In one politically conservative county, angry residents greeted their three commissioners with screams and vitriol as they met to consider certification. As the visibly frustrated Torrance County commissioners indicated they were going to vote to certify their election, the audience shouted \u201cShame on you,\u201d \u201ccowards and traitors,\u201d and \u201cWho elected you?\u201d<\/p>\n

The commissioners pleaded with the audience for patience and said concerns about alleged election vulnerabilities eventually would be addressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe time and place to fight this battle is not by canvassing this election,\u201d Chairman Ryan Schwebach told the crowd in Torrance County.<\/p>\n

In another county, a commission chairman pounded a gavel frantically and ordered law enforcement to clear livid protesters from the room. The 4-1 vote to certify the election by a Republican-dominated commission in Sandoval County was nearly drowned out by jeers of opposition in a divided audience.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Jay Block \u2013 a failed Republican primary candidate for governor in the June 7 vote \u2013 noted his opposition to hoots of approval and applause.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is imperative that we are presented with a complete set of facts\u201d about the election, Block said.<\/p>\n

There is no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulation of voting equipment that could have affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, and no such fraud has surfaced in this year\u2019s midterms. To underscore the accuracy of election results, another Sandoval County commissioner read to the audience the findings of an audit that compared the votes recorded by the county\u2019s tabulating machines in 2020 with a sampling of the actual paper ballots. The difference was just a fraction of 1% in the races for president, U.S. Senate and other offices \u2013 \u201calmost insignificant,\u201d Republican commissioner David Heil said.<\/p>\n

Certifying elections by typically under-the-radar local commissions has been a routine ministerial task for decades that has become politicized ever since former President Donald Trump sought to undermine the process after his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

A rural, heavily Republican county in New Mexico \u2013 Otero County \u2013 thrust the issue into the spotlight this week when its commission said it would not certify the local results from the June 7 primary because of concerns over Dominion voting systems, even though there was no evidence of problems.<\/p>\n

That came despite the county elections clerk saying the primary voting had been safe and secure.<\/p>\n

Otero County Clerk Robyn Holmes, a Republican in her fourth term as the county\u2019s lead elections administrator, told The Associated Press that the June 7 election was conducted without problems. Machine tallies at 16 voting centers each matched the number of ballots that were handed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe primary went off without a hitch,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a great election.\u201d<\/p>\n

The controversy that began in Otero County boiled over on Friday as commissions in the last of the state\u2019s 33 counties were meeting to decide whether to certify results.<\/p>\n

The passionate showdown provided a stark example of the chaos that election experts have warned about as those who promote the lie that Trump was cheated out of re-election seek to populate election offices across the country and the usually low-profile boards that certify the results.<\/p>\n

The New Mexico Supreme Court earlier this week ordered Otero County to sign off on the election results after the Democratic secretary of state asked it to intervene. The state attorney general, also a Democrat, then threatened more legal action if the Republican-dominated commission did not comply with the law.<\/p>\n

That could include charging commissioners with possible violations of state election and government ethics laws, which can be felonies if the action is willful and result in removal from office.<\/p>\n

At least one of the three Otero County commissioners was unfazed. Commissioner Couy Griffin told CNN that he was not planning to vote for certification.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy have a commission if we just get overridden by the court system?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear what would happen next if Otero refused to certify its results.<\/p>\n

New Mexico\u2019s primary ballot included races at all levels \u2013 including Congress, governor, attorney general and a long list of local offices. Those races won\u2019t be official until all counties are certified, which leaves candidates and their campaigns in limbo.<\/p>\n

The developments can be traced to far-right conspiracy theories over voting machines that have spread across the country over the past two years. Various Trump allies have claimed that Dominion voting systems had somehow been manipulated as part of an elaborate scheme to steal the election, which Biden won.<\/p>\n

Dominion has filed several defamation lawsuits, including against Fox News, and in a statement earlier this week said the action by the Otero County commissioners was \u201cyet another example of how lies about Dominion have damaged our company and diminished the public\u2019s faith in elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Election officials outside New Mexico are taking notice. The Secretary of State\u2019s Office said Friday it has been flooded with calls from officials concerned that certification controversies will become a new front in the attacks on democratic norms and could affect future elections, especially in 2024.<\/p>\n

As of Friday afternoon, Otero County was the only one out of the state’s 33 counties yet to certify their results.<\/p>\n

Bernalillo County, which includes Albuquerque and is the state\u2019s most populous, unanimously certified its results earlier Friday. Commissioners agreed they saw no evidence of problems during the primary, but Commissioner Walt Benson acknowledged that a lot of people just don\u2019t trust the system.<\/p>\n

In Otero County, two of the three commissioners need to vote in favor of the certification.<\/p>\n

Griffin was sentenced<\/a> Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to 14 days behind bars, which he has already served. He had been convicted of entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds \u2013 though not the building \u2013 during the Jan. 6 insurrection.<\/p>\n

State election officials advised the sentencing judge of Griffin\u2019s refusal to certify primary election results in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Christina Almeida Cassidy in Atlanta, Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

County Commissioner Couy Griffin speaks to reporters as he arrives at federal court in Washington on Friday. Griffin, who is a central figure in his county\u2019s refusal to certify recent election results based on debunked conspiracy theories about voting machines, has avoided more jail time for joining the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[815,138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-39961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-associated-press-new-mexico","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39961"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=39961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}