The threats posed by right-wing lies about election integrity are expanding: the Republican-controlled county commission in New Mexico’s Otero County has refused so far to certify the results of recent primary elections in connection to baseless concerns about the security of Dominion-brand elections equipment. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) subsequently sounded an alarm.
“Expect more of this… wake up America and GOP, this will destroy us,” Kinzinger said on Twitter Wednesday. “This is now the plan for MAGA, place people in low levels who can refuse to do their basic duty.” The New Mexico secretary of state has asked the state Supreme Court to demand that the Otero board complete that post-primary election certification of the results. Otero County Commissioner Vickie Marquardt bluntly laid out what’s driving the commission’s stance: “I have huge concerns with these voting machines… When I certify stuff that I don’t know is right, I feel like I’m being dishonest because in my heart I don’t know if it is right.” You’d like to think that an elected official would follow more than what they feel in their “heart” when making decisions that could have substantial impacts on their constituents. Remember facts?
Expect more of this… wake up America and GOP, this will destroy us. This is now the plan for MAGA, place people in low levels who can refuse to do their basic duty.
GOP commission refuses to certify New Mexico primary vote | AP News https://t.co/JTTfdSA7Zd
— Adam Kinzinger🇺🇦🇺🇸✌️ (@AdamKinzinger) June 15, 2022
The Dominion-brand machines used in Otero County in the just recently concluded primary elections apparently count ballots; all elections in the state use paper ballots for the initial casting of votes. In Otero County, there are a couple threads that have come together in these recent developments involving the board’s refusal to certify primary results: for one, Couy Griffin, co-founder of Cowboys for Trump, is on the board… and he was also in the crowd during last year’s Trump-incited attack on the Capitol. Griffin was convicted at a so-called bench trial of a federal trespassing offense, although he’s yet to be sentenced for the crime. In addition, David and Erin Clements, a couple from New Mexico, conducted a commission-requested review of matters including the 2020 election cycle in the county… but the couple doesn’t have substantial election-related expertise, although they present themselves as though they do.
The Otero County commission voted to conduct a hand recount of Otero’s primary results, remove mail-in ballot drop boxes required under state law, and stop the utilization of those Dominion-brand tabulators. Otero County Clerk Robyn Holmes indicated she’d not willingly go along with the hand recount demands without court intervention. “The election law does not allow me to hand tally these ballots or to even form a board to do it. I just can’t… And I’m going to follow the law,” as Holmes put it.
On Tuesday, former Nevada Republican legislator Jim Marchant won his party’s nomination to be Nevada’s Secretary of State — a position where he’d be able to exert control over the handling of elections in the state. And Marchant has expressed support for the delusional belief the 2020 presidential election was somehow stolen from Trump, underscoring the threat a general election victory for Marchant could pose. The fact many people in key positions wouldn’t go along with Trump’s post-2020 election wishes was a key reason they didn’t work… but what if those loyal to Trump’s delusions replace them?
