Harbison: Incompetence or Illegal Election Activity?

Jim Harbison

The elections are finally over and as always there were winners and losers. To preserve the integrity of the election process the State of New Mexico has clearly written statutes that are supposed to preserve these fundamental voting rights of US citizens. Each County Clerk is charged with this responsibility. I had the privilege of participating as an Election Challenger. In the precinct I worked in not everything was perfect and some minor mistakes were made but generally everything went smoothly and according to the statutes. I was confident that no one “stole the election or tampered with the process.” Other precincts could not make the same comments.

Lynn Ellins

According to challengers at a different polling site they had the opposite experience.
First, the Presiding Judge was unfamiliar with the opening procedures and was not paying much attention to what was going on all morning. The Clerks and Judges - all Democrats, were not asking voters to state their name, address and year of birth as required by the New Mexico Election Code. When the Republican Election Challenger told the Presiding Judge about it she told him they did not have to. When he persisted in his challenge someone called the Las Cruces Police to remove this “disruptive individual”. He was exercising his legal rights and responsibilities to insure fair elections but at the request of the Presiding Judge was removed by the police. While this was a potentially illegal act by the Presiding Judge it was not the most egregious act at this particular polling site.

In addition to calling the Police, Mr Lynn Ellins, Dona Ana County Clerk (and de facto elections supervisor) was called because another Republican Challenger was complaining about being denied access to the roster to record the information about Provisional Ballots issued. Mr Ellins arrived at the precinct and informed all the Presiding Judges and the Challengers that the Challengers could not review the roster. A Challenger told him the rosters were public records and as a Challenger they had the right to see but not touch the lists. He again told the Challenger she was wrong. At which point the Challenger showed him the publication from the Secretary of State (Bureau of Elections, Handbook for Elections Challengers and Watchers) that verified what she said was correct and that denial of that right according to State Law was a petty misdemeanor. He finally relented and returned to the Presiding Judges table and told them the Challengers had the right to see the list but could not touch it.

The person who was sent to replace the dismissed Republican Challenger arrived at the polling site and was immediately confronted by Mr Ellins and told “you better not cause any trouble here.” Was this a subtle attempt to intimidate the replacement Republican Challenger?
The most troubling issue with this situation is that Mr Ellins is the County Clerk and is charged with the supervision and conduct of the election process. He is to insure all aspects of the Elections Code are administered and enforced correctly. It is not an unrealistic expectation that he be well versed in the appropriate election procedures. This incident indicates he is either incompetent or intentionally tried to influence the outcome of the election process. How many other precinct polling sites were influenced by Mr Ellins irresponsible and improper instructions because of his apparent lack of knowledge of the election statutes and the associated duties that he is charged to perform?
His activities certainly are cause for the Secretary of State and the Attorney General to investigate and take appropriate actions to insure similar discrepancies do not occur in any future elections in Dona Ana County.

Harbison: Incompetence or Illegal Election Activity?