Building anger in rural New Mexico erupts in election crisis

There is a growing divide between the state's Democratic power structure and conservative rural residents who feel their way of life is.

In Otero County, where the crisis over certifying the state's June 7 primary election began, County CommissionerVickie Marquardt struck a defiant tone as she relented under pressure from the state's Democratic attorney general, Democratic secretary of state and a state Supreme Court dominated by Democratic

One of the main explanations she gave for reversing course was not related to the security of voting machines.

Marquardt said that if we get removed from office, nobody will be fighting for the ranchers, and that's where our fight should be now.

Otero County is similar to a number of other New Mexico counties where residents have questioned the accuracy of election results and given voice to conspiracy theories about voting systems.

Frustration over voting and political representation has been building for years in the state. Government decisions that have placed limits on livelihoods, such as curtailing access to water for livestock, shrinking the amount of forest land available for grazing, or suspending timber operations and energy developments, have caused residents to feel marginalized and overrun.

Democrats in New Mexico are in control of every statewide office and the supreme court. Democrats have been in charge of the Legislature for a long time.

Commissioners from several New Mexico counties said they were bound by the law even as they voted to certify their elections. The residents were urged to go to the statehouse.

Some people felt that the state was encroaching on the power of local government. Marquardt complained of the commission's lack of authority under the laws enacted by Democrats and an election certification "railroaded" through by larger forces.

More than a dozen self-proclaimed 2nd Amendment "sanctuary" counties in New Mexico approve defiant resolutions against state gun control laws. The president wants to conserve more private land and waterways for natural habitat, but the county is against it.

Enthusiasm about the security of elections has waned.

Though he acknowledged that he had no evidence of problems or factual basis for questioning the results of the election, the Otero County Commissioner was the only one who voted against certifying the election. After the elections clerk said the primary went off without a hitch, he voted.

Hours before he was sentenced for entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds, the former rodeo rider and co- founder of Cowboys for Trump was in Washington, D.C.

Applause could be heard when he said, "I think we need to hold our ground."

There are far-right conspiracy theories that have spread across the country over the past two years. Various Trump allies have claimed that the voting systems were manipulated to help Biden win the election.

There has been no evidence of widespread fraud that would have changed the results of the 2020 presidential election, and testimony before the congressional committee investigating the insurrection has made clear that many in Trump's inner circle told him the same thing.

Dian Burwell is the manager of a coffee shop in Alamogordo and he is worried about the election clash.

When they see all this, they won't bother to vote. Burwell made a statement.

Despite New Mexico counties eventually votes to certify their primary results, election officials and experts fear the mini-rebellion is just the beginning of efforts nationwide to sow chaos around voting and vote counting. The New Mexico secretary of state said it had been flooded with calls from officials around the country worried that certification controversies will become a new front in the attacks on democratic standards.

Commissioners in a New Mexico county were denounced as traitors by a crowd before they voted on the certification. LeRoy Candelaria, a Republican and Vietnam veteran, voted to certify the results even though he was insulted.

The semi-retired rancher and highway maintenance foreman said he has spent time outside of commission meetings explaining his position that New Mexico's vote-counting machines are well-tested and monitored.

The clerk did a great job. I don't think there's a vote that went wrong There are people who are still upset about the election. Don't worry about the next election and be nice.

That's right.

There are Associated Press writers in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Phoenix.