Finding Creativity in Scoffing at Voter Fraud



Joey Peters

The wonders of the Internet and the impact of the widespread availability of electronic recording devices never ceases to amaze. This morning on the News New Mexico radio show we had a discussion regarding a column written by reporter Milan Simonich on the John Sanchez speech at the GOP pre-primary convention. Simonich reported that Sanchez, "Spoke of the pride he felt as an 18-year-old when he voted for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election." Well, that is pretty close, but not quite exactly what Sanchez said.

A recording we obtained through the courtesy of Joey Peters of the Santa Fe Reporter reveals that Sanchez actually said, "My very first vote when I turned 18 years old was for a man called Ronald Reagan."

Sanchez did not specify that it was the election of 1980 (instead of 1984 when he actually cast his vote for Reagan) nor did he say he was actually 21 when he voted for Reagan. No doubt it was his first presidential vote, and no doubt Sanchez was 21 and not 18 when he cast it. In effect the Lt. Governor got the recipient of his vote correct, but the age when he cast his vote wrong. He batted .500 on that line of his speech. This afternoon according to the Sanchez team's response to our inquiry, Simonich never called them for a simple clairification of which Reagan election the Lt. Governor actually voted in.

Instead, pouncing on this seemingly nebulous slip of the tongue, Simonich loaded up the column and offered several "theories" on the Sanchez bobble. One, Sanchez is older than he says he is. Two, he embellished to inspire the audience, or three, he voted illegally. Simonich admitted it would take a stretch of the imagination, even for conspiracy theorists to think Sanchez voted illegally in 1980. It was all rather strange. After thinking about the Simonich column today, we wondered out loud, what's the big deal? Then we re-read the column again.

Near the end of the Simonich column we actually found the actual target behind his noting of the Sanchez bobble. He wrote: "New Mexico's least effective sleuth, Secretary of State Dianna Duran, publicly said last year that she had evidence of more than 100 people voting unlawfully. Sanchez was not among Duran's suspects, but his own testimony leaves him open to her next great investigation into voter fraud."

With this line we realize the Simonich swipe at Dianna Duran was pretty cleverly orchestrated. The Sanchez date bobble created a tremendous opening to scoff at the idea that voter fraud occurs in New Mexico. Well maybe.

We would direct Simonich's attention to the "next great investigation into voter fraud." It is actually already well underway in Sunland Park where there have been widespread reports of blatant voter fraud for years. In the recent municipal election voter fraud became a side show, as it seems clear people who will steal and cheat and extort will also commit voter fraud.  The voter fraud story in Sunland Park is actually much easier to cover than having to sit through a boring pre-primary convention in search of a zinger that could then be tied back to Dianna Duran for having the temerity to advocate for a photo voter ID law.

Finding Creativity in Scoffing at Voter Fraud