The fake election certificate, signed by a prominent New Mexico Republican and sent to the National Archives in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, has undergone new scrutiny over the past week.
The unique action was barely noticed in the shadows of Proceedings from President Donald Trump’s campaign New Mexico electors gathered at the Santa Fe State Capitol and handed five votes from the New Mexico Electoral College to Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the President and Vice President.
Alternative Election Certificates from New Mexico and 6 Other States First issued American surveillance And as the U.S. House of Commons Election Commission investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol scrutinizes Trump’s supporters’ efforts to overturn proof of Biden’s election victory in several states. , Has become more important.
Democratic Attorney General Michigan Dana Nessel introduced the case to federal prosecutors, describing similar actions by Republican members of the state as “electoral fraud” and continuing to consider state accusations. Ann Arbor News report..
Hector Balderas, the Attorney General of New Mexico, is also a Democrat and has also introduced the New Mexico Republican Certificate to US lawyer Fred J. Federici.
“Election law is the foundation of our democracy and must be respected,” Valderas said in a statement. need. “
OnPolitics: January 6th Voter Voting Act and 2020 Elections
Republicans in New Mexico were largely silent, including signers who claimed they might be legitimate electors.But one of the signers Las Cruces Sun-News He “has no regrets.”
The state Republicans did not answer the question in this story.
Weaken the 2020 elections
There was a democratic elector on December 14, 2020 Vote After Biden won 501,614 votes for President Donald Trump’s 401,894 in the New Mexico popularity poll. The results were run on the basis of a confirmation certificate by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and submitted according to the normal process.
On the same day, the Trump Campaign filed a proceeding over New Mexico using a drop box to collect completed voting papers. This is one of a series of steps taken to strengthen security in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A few weeks later, the campaign Dropped the problemHowever, the president continued to insist on the false allegations of widespread fraudulent voting, claiming that he was a legitimate winner. All evidence was reversed as a result of audits and recounts in multiple states.
Also, on December 14, Republican electors from New Mexico gathered at the State Capitol and were denied admission, but still signed their own election certificate in support of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
The signatories were businessmen Jewll Powderell and Lupe Garcia. Former Republican Speaker Deborah Maestas. Rosie Trip, a former Republican National Committee member from Sokoro who has held elected positions. Anissa Ford Tinnin signed on behalf of oil businessman (and another former party leader) Harvey Yates.
According to the document, parallel certification “understands that we may later be determined to be officially elected and qualified electors of the United States President and Vice President of New Mexico.” It was conducted.
The certificate was then signed and submitted to the National Archives and Records Administration. However, the claim that New Mexico’s election results could be overturned in favor of Trump had no merit.
“There was no real impact on how the voters were counted,” said Alex Cartas, a spokesman for New Mexico’s Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver. Sun news, addition, “”They did not confuse the actual number of real electoral colleges. The election was held as it should be. “
more: New Mexico needs a tie-breaking election determined by a game of chance
January 6, 2021 a few weeks later Presidential supporters attack parliament After Trump called on them to march to the Capitol during a fierce rally near the White House when they met to finish the election.
After the order was restored and the process continued, Senator Yvette Herrell, a Republican representative of southern New Mexico, took a new oath. Opposition to proof of election results By Biden’s favor from Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Herrell’s office did not respond to inquiries from Sun news Looking back on the Republican voter certificate or her thoughts, on the validity of Biden’s elections.
Despite Republican opposition in Congress, election results were confirmed, and Biden and Harris were launched on January 20, 2021 in the presence of enhanced security throughout the Capitol and Washington, DC.
“I have no regrets”
Powdrell, a Rio Rancho businessman identified as chairman of the Republican election certificate, Sun news He “had no regrets” about signing the certificate that day.
This was the first time Powderel had served as the party’s presidential elector, and the group remembered signing a certificate in the lobby after being denied entry to the State Capitol.
He dismissed the new note on the certificate as “non-issued”.
“Why are we talking about it now that the election is over?” He asked with a laugh. “How can we undermine an election that has already taken place?”
His intention in signing the certificate was “to say I support the Republican Party,” he said, not to undermine the process.
When asked if he would accept Biden’s victory in the election as genuine, Powderel first said, “The election was what it was, and the decisive and indisputable irreversible facts you refute it. Unless you have it, that’s what it is. “
He then suggested that such evidence might exist, but the court refused to hear it. The Trump campaign and allies filed proceedings and allegations to intervene in several states and the US Supreme Court in the weeks following the election. Neither challenge was won.
“The court will not hear it, so it may be time for you to present those facts to the general public and let the general public decide,” said Powderel.
“They bring real results.”
Cartas said the Secretary of State supported further investigation of Republican certificates, and what appeared to be a December 2020 stunt follows the exposure of efforts to overturn the January 6 and subsequent Trump elections. He said it was subsequently revealed as part of a dark painting.
“That’s exactly what they did and the story they perpetuated led to the violence on January 6,” Cartas said. “They have real consequences and can really undermine our democratic process.”
more: Washington’s New Mexico delegation looks back on the January 6 parliamentary riots
“Currently, the right to vote is very much in the story, both at the state and federal levels,” Cartas said since the uprising on January 6. Ambitious package of election proposals Toulouse Oliver and the Governor presented to state legislators for the current legislative session.
However, he said it was difficult to define proposals to address issues such as counterfeiting and “alternative” election certificates, and even if that effort helped cast doubt on the election process, it directly disrupted the election process. He said he didn’t let him.
Algernon D’Ammassa, 575-541-5451, adammassa @ lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites On Twitter.
This article was originally published in Las Cruces Sun-News: New Mexico Republican: Signs “No Regret” Fake Election Certificate