New Mexico Republicans that alleged vote machine fraud certify election
results
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[June 18, 2022]
By Tim Reid
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A
Republican-controlled county commission in New Mexico that refused to
recognize election returns this month after citing unfounded conspiracy
theories about voting machines bowed to legal pressure on Friday and
certified the results.
Otero County commissioners voted 2-1 to certify the county's June 7
primary election results, but only after the New Mexico Supreme Court
ordered them to do so and after threats of legal action by the state's
Democratic attorney general.
The commissioner who still voted against certifying the results, Couy
Griffin, did so hours after being sentenced for breaching the U.S.
Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
Griffin, an election-fraud conspiracist and founder of "Cowboys for
Trump," avoided jail time, was fined $3,000 and given one year
supervised release with the requirement that he complete 60 hours of
community service.
Former Republican President Donald Trump has continued to push
falsehoods that Democratic President Joe Biden stole the 2020 election.
Many Republicans believe Trump even after revelations in a congressional
hearing this month that the former president's own daughter and other
close allies rejected them.
There are fears of more election turmoil ahead because of the hold
unfounded conspiracy theories about voting machines and vote counts now
have on many Republican lawmakers and grassroots Republican voters.
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Otero's initial move not to certify comes ahead of
the November midterm elections that will decide control of the U.S.
Congress, with both chambers now narrowly held by Democrats, as well
as the 2024 presidential election, in which former President Donald
Trump has indicated he could seek a second White House term.
U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger, one of 10 House of
Representatives Republicans who voted to impeach Trump on a charge
of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 attack, said Otero's initial refusal
to certify was a worrying harbinger of election turmoil ahead.
"Wake up America and GOP, this will destroy us," Kinzinger, a member
of the congressional commission investigating the Jan. 6 attack,
tweeted on Wednesday.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Jun/18/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, who had
previously said the county commission was acting "illegally,"
expressed relief that the elections results had been certified.
"The voters of Otero County and the candidates who duly won their
primaries can now rest assured that their voices have been heard and
the General Election can proceed as planned," Toulouse Oliver said
in a statement.
(Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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