The New Mexico Supreme Court doesn’t seem convinced by the all-GOP Otero County Commission’s “just getting bad vibes, man” argument about the state’s voting machines to justify not certifying the primary election results.
Siding with the emergency petition New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver (D) filed the day before, the court issued a writ of mandamus on Wednesday ordering the commission to certify the results no later than Friday.
Toulouse Oliver applauded the court’s decision in a statement on Wednesday evening.
“The voters and candidates of Otero County can now be assured that their voices will be heard in full,” the elections official said. “Though it was sad to see the Commission give in to discredited conspiracy theories and try to halt the legal process of election certification, it’s encouraging to know that the rule of law prevailed and that the checks and balances in our system of government remain strong.”
The three-member commission, which includes Cowboys for Trump leader and convicted Jan. 6 insurrectionist Couy Griffin, voted against approving the election returns on Monday. The decision was based on nothing more than Trump World’s debunked conspiracy theories claiming that Dominion voting machines rigged elections, and the commissioners didn’t offer any evidence aside from their vague feeling that something was wrong.
“I have huge concerns with these voting machines,” Vickie Marquardt, one of the commissioners, said on Monday. “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.”
Griffin had an equally compelling response when told that the machines get tested publicly by county officials and are independently certified.
“That’s a source that we don’t have any control or influence over,” he said on Monday.
The New Mexico Supreme Court’s June 17 deadline falls on the same day as Griffin’s federal sentencing hearing for his participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. He has been convicted of trespassing on Capitol grounds, though he did not enter the Capitol building itself.
Read the Supreme Court’s order (which was obtained by local outlet KOB) below:
