The Republican Party of Grant County (RPGC) filed an ethics complaint last month with the New Mexico Secretary of State (SOS), alleging election laws were violated in the seating of one of three of the Bureau of Elections Director's family members on the Absentee Ballot Board.

They also contend in the Sept. 16 filing that the clerk's office failed to contact former election judges to serve on this board during the 2020 primary, and instead placed Eric Gomez, the son of Director of Elections Elizabeth Trujillo, Mariyah Gomez, her daughter, and Catherine Gomez, her mother-in-law, in those positions for that election. This board will also have the ultimate decision on accepting ballots in the Nov. 3 election.

The RPGC leaders said they consulted with now former Deputy District Attorney Norman Wheeler and were told there could possibly be four violations of state election law, a fourth-degree felony.

"We checked the voter rolls and found Eric Gomez was listed as a registered democrat in early 2020, although he is now listed as a republican, which is a clear violation of state election law HB 407, Section 23 1-2-12 B (1) and (2), which states, 'a judge of an election board should not have changed parties within the last two years,'" the complaint states.

The Clerk's office provided the Grant County Beat (GCB) with a copy of Gomez's voter registration from April 2, 2020 verifying he registered as a republican on that date, but voter history records from that office show he was a registered democrat previous to that date.

"We are concerned over prior Election Judge Kendra Wolf not being contacted to participate, even though she was listed as a judge," reads the complaint.

When asked, Ms. Castrillo said Kendra never replied to a "Notice of Appointment of Election Officials," postcard sent to her office. However, Wolf told the GCB she never received notification by mail, phone or any other means.

Castrillo provided a copy of a blank card she said they sent to Wolf and all potential poll workers, which does not verify it had been sent. Both Wolf and Castrillo said the Clerk usually follows up with a phone call to them. Wolf has been an election worker and judge for several years.

Both Castrillo and Trujillo said they usually try to follow up with a phone call, but, said Trujillo, "Because there was a pandemic, we didn't want to put any pressure on them."

According to the RPGC officials, Vice Chairman Sammy Morales met with Castrillo and Trujillo regarding issues with the process utilized during the 2020 primary elections. The main issues were the overall make-up of the individual election boards, in particular the absentee ballot election board, and the method used to notify the members of each board.
"In particular we asked about the verification of the ballot being legal, with potential for ballot theft or counterfeiting," reads the complaint. "The only item that could really be used for a fail-safe identification is matching signatures to the voter registration."

"Ms. Castrillo affirmed that, if the signatures don't match, the vote would be discarded, however she did say the board is in charge and they have the ultimate decision on whether to accept the ballot or not," the complaint states.