New Mexico’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the county commissioners in rural Otero County to do their jobs and certify election results, two days after they refused, citing unsubstantiated concerns about fraud.
The court granted the emergency motion by New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, who earlier this week asked the court to intervene and compel the three-member board to approve vote totals from a June 7 primary. The commission had voted on Monday not to do so.
That move had potentially disenfranchised “every Otero County voter who legally and securely cast a ballot” and harmed candidates “seeking to have their names on the General Election ballot” in November, Oliver argued.
A spokesman for Oliver, Alex Curtas, said that office was also pursing a criminal referral with the state’s attorney general, which could result in the commissioners being charged with contempt of court or removed from office if they do not follow the court’s instructions.
The commissioners’ refusal has thrust the small county of 66,000 on the Texas border into the national spotlight at a time of rising concern over the long-term damage from former president Donald Trump’s repeated claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him — the so-called “big lie.”
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