New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced Friday that the Republicans who participated in a fake elector scheme in 2020 did not break any state laws — but suggested that legislators make changes to make such conduct illegal in New Mexico.
Republicans, aided by former President Donald Trump’s campaign, issued a certificate of electoral votes in case it was determined that the Republican won the state’s five electoral votes. Trump lost New Mexico by a sizable margin, 10.79 percent, much higher than in five other states where Republicans issued fake certificates of electoral votes.
Torrez informed legislative leaders and the governor of his decision with a report and a letter dated Jan. 5.
“It is disgraceful that New Mexicans were enlisted in a plot to undermine democracy and thwart the peaceful and orderly transfer of power,” Torrez said in a statement. “However, like the fake electors in Pennsylvania, their misconduct is not subject to criminal prosecution under current state law.”
To address this, Torrez recommended two changes for the Legislature and governor to make to the state’s election code. This year’s legislative session begins later this month.
The report suggests amending a portion of the state election code regarding falsifying of election documents to add a “new crime of falsely acting as a presidential elector,” citing a bill passed by the Nevada Legislature. Nevada’s Republican governor vetoed that bill.
The report also suggested a crime specifically for falsely acting as a presidential elector, citing “the gravity and risk of harm posed by an attempt to disrupt a presidential election.”
“I am asking the Governor to give a message to the New Mexico Legislature to address the issue during the upcoming legislative session and amend the election code to give our prosecutors greater latitude to prosecute these types of cases in the future,” Torrez said in his statement.
Torrez said when he assumed office, he ordered a full investigation into whether any state laws were violated by false electors. Hector Balderas, Torrez’s predecessor as Attorney General, had referred the false certificate to federal authorities.
Authorities in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania charged those involved in fake electoral certificate schemes in those states.
In New Mexico, unlike in most other states involved in the scheme to overturn the election, the fake certificate said it would only go into effect if Congress overturned the results. The five fake Republican electors were Anissa Ford-Tinnon, Deborah Maestas, Jewll Powdrell, Rosie Tripp, and Guadalupe Garcia.
The AG’s report contained details of how the Trump campaign, including attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Kenneth Chesebro, initiated the scheme elsewhere. New Mexico was a relatively late addition, as previously outlined in a federal indictment against Trump.
The fake electors told state investigators that they understood the certificate would only be used if the election was overturned. The AG corroborated this belief with minutes of the meeting where the fake electors signed the false certificate and a proposed press release from the Republican Party of New Mexico.
The report painted a picture of the hurried nature of the effort in New Mexico and how the fake electors were confused about the process. The report says that, at the time, they were “also largely unaware of the role of the Vice President in the January 6th certificate proceeding” and were unaware of the theory that he could unilaterally overturn election results.
The Republican Party of New Mexico dug in and defended the false slate of electors in a statement sent on Friday afternoon, citing a 1961 situation where Hawaii Democrats signed a slate despite Republican Richard Nixon leading Democrat John F. Kennedy. However in that case, Nixon had a narrow lead and was the subject of a recount—one that ultimately would show Kennedy actually won Hawaii’s three electoral votes that year.
Also, according to Politico, a state court in Hawaii in 1960 ruled the Kennedy certificate was legitimate.
“In 2020, New Mexico faced numerous election challenges that had the possibility of going before a court,” RPNM chairman Steve Pearce said in a statement. “Therefore, the New Mexico electors cast their votes by the deadline written within the federal statute 3 U.S.C. §§7-8, ‘on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December,’ in the event the election outcome changed.”
The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit against New Mexico over the legality of ballot dropboxes for absentee ballots on the same day New Mexico’s electors cast their ballots, and on the same day the Republican fake slate signed their certificate.
The suit came after the state certified its election results.
Ultimately, the Trump campaign quietly dropped the lawsuit. Then-Attorney General Balderas called the lawsuit “dangerous” and a “lost cause.”
The AG’s report came out a day before the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection where Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of election results that showed Trump lost to Joe Biden.
One Republican elected official, then-Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, was present and was charged with his role. He has since been barred from holding office under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Update: Added statement from the Republican Party of New Mexico and information about a lawsuit from the Trump campaign.