District 44 candidate files complaint in district court; claims election fraud

BERNALILLO — Ali Ennenga, the Republican candidate for New Mexico House District 44, filed a contest of election complaint Dec. 17 with the 13th Judicial District Court.

Ennenga is representing herself in the suit against Democrat Kathleen Cates, the incumbent and declared winner of the 2024 District 44 election last month. According to a release sent by Ennenga, she has several concerns about the conduct of the election, particularly with same-day registration voters.

“The numbers just don’t match,” Ennenga said. “From the confusion created by same-day registration to changes in the provisional ballot numbers after the canvass, there are too many unanswered questions. I am filing this complaint to demand transparency and a hand recount of the ballots.”

In the 63-page complaint filed with the court, Ennenga states irregularities and/or fraud took place in both Sandoval and Bernalillo counties, but particularly in Sandoval.

“In New Mexico House District 44, the sum of the precinct line items does not equal the precinct line items of total votes cast. ... There is a discrepancy between total voters casting their votes and the total number of votes cast,” she wrote in the complaint.

She referenced research done by Ramona Goolsby who is a known member of a group that challenges election procedures regularly at Sandoval County Commission meetings.

In an election canvas by Deputy County Clerk Joey Dominguez at the Nov. 16 Board of Elections meeting, it was admitted that errors, mishaps and other problems occurred in the county on Election Day. All commissioners but Jay Block approved the election despite the known errors.

Election Day errors included failure to upload results from one precinct after a poll worker mishandled a tabulator memory card, corrupting the data. Additionally, two early voting tabulators were deployed without proper seals, and 32 provisional ballots were disqualified due to improper handling by the absentee board.

Of the 79,894 votes counted in the county, Dominguez said 316 were disqualified outright due to issues such as incomplete same-day registration processes or missing information on ballot envelopes.

Additionally, and with more concern in the challenge, there was the mishandling of 149 provisional ballots.

Dominguez admitted to providing incorrect instructions to the absentee board, causing ballots to be separated from their envelopes. This breach of protocol violated the chain of custody, making it impossible to verify or challenge individual votes. Consequently, all 149 ballots were disqualified. However, Dominguez noted that all voters who had ballots that were disqualified were properly notified and given the chance to vote.

Officials said the only voter that wasn’t able to vote was an individual that picked up a ballot but never filled it in and just walked out of the polling location with it.

Furthermore, the State Canvas Board certified the 2024 general election at the end of November, making all results official. The New Mexico Secretary of State website shows Cates won with 9,166 votes to Ennenga’s 8,158.

“The 2024 general election was run with efficiency and integrity by the state’s election administrators, and every New Mexican should have the highest level of confidence in these official election results,” said Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver in a news release.

Ennenga claims in her complaint that there is a “discrepancy of 463 votes in Sandoval County.”

She also states Dominguez’s initial report that was certified by the commissioners at the canvas board meeting was different from the report he gave in county commission at the Dec. 11 general meeting.

Her goal with the complaint is to get the district court to order a recount of all precincts that fall in District 44 lines.

So far, court records show Ennenga filed the complaint and a request for hearing of her motion to impound ballots along with the motion itself. The first judge overseeing the case was asked to be excused by Ennenga as well. A new judge was assigned.