Eddy County certifies 2022 Election results

The Eddy County Board of County Commissioners certified the canvass of the 2022 general election on Nov. 15,

Independent Larry Marker was a candidate for Commissioner of Public Lands, a seat won by incumbent Democrat Stephanie Garcia Richard. On Tuesday Marker questioned the integrity of voting machines to count write in votes across the state, and asked the Eddy County Commission during a public comment period to delay certifying the results of the 2022 general election.

“I’m here to ask you to call the Secretary of State and tell her you’re not going to certify this vote and that you’re going to order a hand count of this election before you certify it,” Marker said, who incorrectly pointed to issue with certification of the election machines used throughout the state.

More:General Election results certified by Eddy County Commissioners

Marker said he was unsure of the votes he received in the election again Richard and Republican candidate Jefferson Byrd, but New Mexico Secretary of State data showed Marker received 2,552 votes. Marker garnered 518 write in votes in Eddy County, according to final voting data from the Eddy County Clerk’s Office.

Eddy County defends election process and final certification

Eddy County Clerk Darlene Rosprim said her office trained all poll workers in preparation for Election Day.

“Everybody is treated exactly the same with respect and we appreciate them coming out to vote, and I hope our voters appreciate the workers that we have,” she said.

District 2 Commissioner Jon Henry said people questioning Eddy County’s election integrity “bothered” him.

“I think our clerks do an incredible job of meeting you (the general public) wherever you want to talk about it. You do a great job talking about it. You do a great job of explaining how this process works, and I do think more people took advantage of that than normal,” he said.

More:Southeast New Mexico voter turnout lags behind big cities, state overall in 2022 election

“The election is crucially important to everybody because I want folks to understand that when you do go vote your vote does count. Your vote is important,” Henry said.

Rosprim said 49 percent of Eddy County residents voted in the Nov. 8 election from among the 34,201 people eligible to vote in the county.

“Half of us didn’t even vote. Those that are worried please show up and vote,” Henry said.

District 1 Commissioner Ernie Carlson and District 3 Commissioner Fred Beard found no problems in certifying the election results.

“The County Clerks Office has always done a good job,” Beard said. “I’d like to congratulate the voters that did vote.

“There’s a lot of registered voters that could have made a difference in one particular election had they shown up in Eddy County."

State issues warning on "potential disruptions"

New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Attorney General Hector Balderas issued a joint press release Nov. 15 warning about disruption to the election certificate process.

The Attorney General’s office said it was ready to take legal action against attempts to interfere with the certification of the Nov. 8 election, according to the press release.

The Secretary of State previously advised county commissions about their duties regarding election certification.

“New Mexico voters deserve to have their voices heard in full and any attempt to silence those voters through manipulation of the election certification process will be met with swift legal action,” read the release.

The Secretary of State's office pointed to past attempts to "interfere" by county officials in the certification process.

“These tactics are not new and were seen during the 2022 Primary Election when Otero County (influenced by these same election conspiracy theorists) attempted to neglect their legal duties and not certify the results of that election,” read the release.

More:The day after the election

What is an election canvass

The Secretary of State defined canvass as a process of reconciling and confirming the accuracy of election results and reporting those results to the county and then to the state.

“Under the law, these county boards support the county clerk in the canvass of the election and are mainly responsible for ensuring the timely certification of the county clerk’s report of canvass. These boards do not canvass the election and must follow statutory procedures,” according to the release.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Eddy County approves 2022 election results