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New Mexico County Commissioner Condemned for Role in January 6, 2021 Attack on U.S. Capitol has vowed to defy a state Supreme Court order and fail to certify primary election results in his county during a scheduled meeting by Friday, a decision that could throw the state electoral process in chaos.
Couy Griffin, 48, the founder of a group called Cowboys for Trump, said in an interview that he was too concerned about the safety of state voting machines to vote to certify the results of the primary election. June 7 for Otero County, citing a major discredit. theories about piracy and electoral fraud.
The three members, The all-small Republican border commission on the Texas border is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting Friday afternoon to decide whether to certify election results in time to meet a state deadline. A second jurisdiction in the central part of the state, Torrance County, had delayed a certification vote earlier this week and was due to consider the issue Friday morning.
Griffin was in Washington on Friday, where he was to be sentenced in the U.S. District Court on charges of entering a restricted area during the Capitol attack.
“My oath to the people I serve is more important than any threat the government makes to me,” Griffin said in an interview Thursday. “If they threaten to put me in jail, I will go to jail with honor.”
Couy Griffin is guilty of admission during the attack on the United States Capitol
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of New Mexico approved an emergency petition from the Secretary of State asking Otero’s commissioners to do their job and approve about 7,300 votes in the June 7 primary, where there are races like the the only state legislative seat in the county and the county sheriff. the scales.
The Supreme Court of New Mexico orders that the county commission certify the vote
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver also referred the matter to state Attorney General Hector Balderas, saying in a motion filed Thursday that the Otero commission had committed “multiple illegal actions” when voted in favor of manual counting of election results, elimination. ballot boxes, stop using state voting systems and delay the certification of the primary vote.
Griffin and Otero’s other two commissioners, Vickie Marquardt and Gerald Matherly, neither of whom returned calls or emails for comment, face contempt of court and penalties, such as being fired.
“The Commission must comply with the rule of law or we will take legal action,” Balderas said in a statement.