Merrie Lee Soules, Mary Helen Garcia allege fraud in south county cost them primary victories
Las Crucen Merrie Lee Soules, a Democrat, announced Wednesday she plans to challenge the outcome of her multi-county race to become the party's nominee to the District 5 Public Regulation Commission contest in November.
On June 3, Soules lost to contender Sandy Jones of Truth or Consequences by 128 votes — less than a percent of the 19,694 cast in the race.
Soules, who works for a White Sands Missile Range defense contractor, highlighted a separate election challenge being pursued by state Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Las Cruces. Garcia has alleged election fraud tied to absentee ballots in Sunland Park are to blame for her own 16-vote loss to challenger Bealquin "Bill" Gomez.
Mary Helen Garcia
In an interview, Soules said there's a deadline next week to contest the primary election race. She said she has an attorney and will file court documents in 3rd Judicial District Court outlining her case.
"In my mind, there was election fraud; there was tampering with the results of this election," she said. "I think the voters need to be protected from this."
Garcia, in her own challenge, has spotlighted a pool of absentee ballots cast in Sunland Park, contending there are a number of irregularities.
Soules, a former auto industry executive, said her own concerns mirror Garcia's, and she might collaborate in some way because the same evidence could apply.
Jones said he'd wait to learn more about Soules' action before commenting.
Garcia challenge
Meanwhile, Garcia, through her attorney, has asked state District Court Judge Jim Martin for an extension in a schedule leading up to an Aug. 13 decision in her challenge. That decision initially had been set for Aug. 12 but was pushed back a day by the judge.
In particular, Garcia's attorney, Christopher Saucedo of Albuquerque, sought to extend the window for the "discovery," a period in which attorneys can gather evidence for a case by deposing witnesses or posing formal questions to other parties in the case, according to court filings. That window was supposed to end July 28.
Saucedo wrote that a handwriting expert indicated that at least 17 absentee ballots showed fraud or were "highly questionable," but the number could be "even higher."
"Given that (Garcia) lost the election by a mere 16 votes, a full review of the absentee ballots at issue is critical," he said in arguing for the time extension. "However, to fully evaluate whether such ballots were cast fraudulently, (Garcia) needs additional time to gather evidence."
Also, Saucedo contended the extension should be granted because Garcia switched attorneys in early July and a handwriting expert of Gomez's wasn't available before the end of the discovery period.
Saucedo asked that the discovery deadline be extended to Aug. 15 and that the hearing for the judge's decision be reset to the week of Aug. 18.
However, an attorney for Gomez, Christopher Graeser of Santa Fe, said the schedule should remain unchanged. He said Garcia has indicated possibly deposing "up to 40 individuals," and it is "not at all clear that the time requested by (Garcia) will be adequate." Also, the proposed extension could leave too little time for an appeal to a higher court, he wrote.
"An appeal by the unsuccessful party is fully expected," Graeser wrote.
A pressure for resolving the dispute is a deadline faced by the Doña Ana County Clerk's Office to print November general election ballots.
Garcia said her case is "going well — that's all I can say."
"We're just waiting to see what the judge will decide," she said.
Gomez said he attended a proceeding Wednesday related to the election challenge, but otherwise didn't want to comment about the case.
In all, Gomez received 88 absentee votes, Garcia received 15 and a third candidate, Christian Lira, got one absentee vote, according to county election results.
