QUESTIONS ABOUND: A judge will determine the validity of absentee ballots cast from Sunland Park, N.M., the site of numerous political controversies over the years.
By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
The border town of Sunland Park is no stranger to political controversies and accusations of stolen elections.
Friday, another chapter unfolds when a sitting member of the New Mexico House of Representatives who lost a close Democratic Party primary in June will try to persuade a judge to throw out all or some of the absentee votes from precincts in Sunland Park.
Watching closely will be another Democrat, Merrie Lee Soules, who also lost a nail-biter in her bid to get elected to the Public Regulation Commission.
“It makes me furious to think there are people who think it’s OK to hijack an election,” Soules said.
Strong words, but Soules believes there are serious questions about the lopsided outcomes involving absentee votes in the two precincts that make up Sunland Park.
“I think there was fraud involved with the ballots,” Soules said in a telephone interview with New Mexico Watchdog.
Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Las Cruces, a 12-year incumbent who lost to Bill Gomez by 16 votes, filed Friday’s court challenge.
In the two Sunland Park precincts, Gomez received 88 votes; Garcia got just 15.
Garcia is questioning the relatively high number of absentee votes that came out of Sunland Park and thinks the big advantage Gomez accrued is suspicious.
“That’s what we’re zeroing in on,” Garcia told New Mexico Watchdog before the challenge was filed. “There has to be integrity in our elections.”
Gomez thinks Garcia is a sore loser.
“I think it’s a bunch of bull,” Gomez said when he first heard of Garcia’s challenge. “I got the most votes and that’s the way it goes … I ran a clean campaign. I won and that’s the way life is.”
VOTER FRAUD ALLEGATIONS: Democrat and Public Regulation Commission candidate Merrie Lee Soules thinks voters in Sunland Park were manipulated and intimidated in the June primary.
Soules, who lost to Jones by 128 votes, thinks the absentee votes out of Sunland Park made a significant difference in her race.
New Mexico Watchdog left a message with Soules’ opponent, Sandy Jones, but we have not received a response.
Sunland Park makes up two precincts in Doña Ana County and, according to County Clerk Lynn Ellins, Jones beat Soules in the Precinct 13 absentee balloting, 51-2. In the other Sunland Park precinct, Precinct 97, Jones won the absentee vote, 34-1.
That’s a combined total of 85-3.
Soules claims there’s “a pattern” throughout the years of Sunland Park turning out a disproportionate number of absentee votes in primaries as well as general elections, often with one candidate receiving an overwhelming number of votes.
A review by New Mexico Watchdog of the precincts’ returns in recent elections seems to bear that out.
For example, in the 2010 primary the official election returns compiled by the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office showed many more absentee ballots cast in the two Sunland Park precincts than in other precincts in Doña Ana County.
In the 2010 general election, the Sunland Park precincts also turned out a greater number of absentee ballots compared to most others in the county, with some candidates winning by margins such as 76-2 and 54-3.
In the 2008 general election, the difference between one candidate and another in Sunland Park absentee ballots included such lopsided results as 108-4, 111-3 and 110-4 in favor of Democrats.
It should be noted that Sunland Park is an area with an overwhelming Democratic majority.
But in the 2008 Democratic primary, Sunland Park turned out more absentee voters than any other county precincts. While the absentee numbers were about half that seen in the general election, the results were often just as lopsided — 66-7, for example, in Precinct 13 for a county treasurer’s race.
When asked about the high number of absentee votes in Sunland Park, county clerk Ellins said, “It doesn’t surprise me. Sunland Park has a history of having significantly more absentee votes cast as a percentage than other areas of the county.”
Why?
“I’d rather not speculate on that.”
Often, Democrats across the country dismiss allegations of voter fraud but Soules, a progressive, claims something is seriously wrong with the Sunland Park numbers.
“I think there is voter fraud and I think the Democrats have an opportunity to look inside the party and take proactive steps and not let these circumstances take place again,” Soules said Tuesday.
In the aftermath of a wild mayoral race in 2012 that led to a mayoral candidate getting charged with bribery, extortion and receiving illegal kickbacks, a former Sunland Park city employee admitted to multiple charges of voter fraud for inducing non-residents to vote.
As for Friday’s court date, 3rd Judicial District Court Judge Jim Martin will hear Garcia’s case and said he intends to reach a decision the same day.
It’s expected the judge could make one of four rulings:
1. He finds no — or insufficient — evidence of fraud and Gomez is declared the winner.
2. He throws out the absentee votes from Sunland Park and Garcia is declared the winner.
3. He throws out all the votes as well as all of the ballots from Sunland Park, which would affect every race on the ballot including the Soules-Jones contest. That could trigger an automatic recount in the Soules-Jones race because the margin will be less than one-tenth of 1 percent, meeting the requirements for a state-mandated recount.
4. He orders a new election in the Garcia-Gomez race in House District 34. Since the race has no Republicans, Martin could order the Garcia-Gomez rematch on the November general election ballot. When asked about this scenario, Ellins said, “It’s not ever happened, as far as I know” in state history.
Unlike Garcia, Soules did not file a court challenge contesting her race because she hoped the state Attorney General or the Secretary of State would step in. “I had to be able to do criminal investigations that I’m just not prepared or equipped to do,” Soules said.
But she said she’ll be in court Friday to see what happens.
“If they throw out the ballots, that has the potential to affect the PRC race and throw it into an automatic recount.”