With election approaching, Doña Ana County clerk abruptly resigns

Doña Ana County Clerk Scott Krahling abruptly submitted his resignation on Wednesday, creating a leadership void in the clerk’s office less than two months before voting begins in the upcoming general election.

The resignation of the county’s top elections official is effective Sept. 7.

“It has been an honor to serve the citizens of Doña Ana County,” Krahling wrote in the resignation letter he submitted to Ben Rawson, chairman of the county commission. Krahling, a Democrat, gave no reason for his resignation.

It will be up to the county commission to appoint someone to serve the remainder of Krahling’s term, which ends on Dec. 31, 2020. The commission is moving quickly to fill the job and allay concerns about the election. In a news release sent out after NMPolitics.net reported on Krahling’s resignation, the county said letters of interest must be received by its human resources office by 5 p.m. on Sept. 5.

Applicants, who will be subject to background checks, should then attend the Sept. 11 commission meeting, where they’ll be given an opportunity to address commissioners, the release states. At that meeting, the commission will consider either appointing someone to the job or setting up a process to select a new clerk, Rawson told NMPolitics.net.

Rawson, in the news release, said he wanted to “assure the residents of Doña Ana County that we are moving quickly and thoroughly to fill this important position.”

“The focus of the commission will be to support the Clerk’s Office in the execution of their important daily duties, as well as to ensure a successful outcome for the Nov. 6 general election,” he said.

Officials aren’t commenting on the reason for Krahling’s resignation, but the county attorney’s office has been investigating a complaint involving Krahling and former Chief Deputy County Clerk Rose Ann Vasquez for months, NMPolitics.net has learned. While the details of the allegations in that complaint aren’t known publicly, Krahling’s resignation comes as a report on that investigation is being finalized.

The county paid a private investigative firm nearly $2,800 earlier this year to look into the complaint. That company, Universal Investigation Services of Albuquerque, submitted a report on its investigation to the county attorney’s office in early March, according to an invoice the firm sent the county that NMPolitics.net obtained through a public records request.

NMPolitics.net also requested the investigator’s report. The county refused to release it, citing attorney/client privilege.

In an interview conducted Wednesday morning before Krahling submitted his resignation, Rawson said the report hadn’t yet been finalized but he expected it to be completed this week. He said he had seen a draft, but “it would be premature of me to comment on the details.”

Rawson said he anticipated that the full commission would consider the findings in the report, potentially at its next meeting on Sept. 11. That, Rawson confirmed, is an indication that the investigation found something concerning about the behavior or actions of Krahling.

“I do think there’s reason to believe that we could be dealing with this on Sept. 11,” Rawson said before Krahling submitted his resignation. Asked later Wednesday how Krahling’s resignation would impact that, Rawson said he didn’t yet know.

And asked if the allegations were serious enough that they might be referred to law enforcement, Rawson said, “I think it’s too soon to answer that question, but I look forward to reviewing the full report this week.”

Reached after Krahling submitted his resignation, Commissioner Ramon Gonzalez also declined to discuss details.

“Sometimes we do things that kind of, we don’t know what we’re doing at times,” Gonzalez said. “We get into it and we just don’t see what we’re up against until it happens.”

Krahling isn’t sharing details about the complaint the county has been investigating either. “Right now, we’re not making any further comment,” said his attorney, C.J. McElhinney of Las Cruces.

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver acknowledged in a statement released by her office that she has knowledge of the situation that led to Krahling’s resignation, but she didn’t disclose details. “Scott made the right decision for the office,” she said.

Vasquez has not responded to requests for comment.

Even after the investigative report is finalized and released to the commission, county spokesman Jess Williams said, “it may be protected — all or in part — by attorney/client privilege.” NMPolitics.net has filed additional records requests to try to learn more about the situation.

Krahling, a former county commissioner, started working at the clerk’s office on Jan. 13, 2013 as the elections supervisor and later became chief deputy clerk. He was elected county clerk in 2016 and started that job on Jan. 1, 2017. Krahling replaced Lynn Ellins, who he then hired as his chief deputy clerk.

Vasquez started working in the clerk’s office on Jan. 1, 2016 as a document technician. She was promoted to communications coordinator in 2017 and became chief deputy clerk on Jan. 22 of this year, when Ellins retired.

The investigation into Krahling and Vasquez began around the time Vasquez became second-in-command at the clerk’s office. The private investigator interviewed several county employees about the complaint between Feb. 13 and 15, the invoice states, including Krahling on Feb. 14 and Vasquez on Feb. 15. Several employees of the county’s elections bureau were also interviewed.

The investigator submitted the report to the county attorney’s office for review on March 2. Vasquez’s employment with the county ended on March 13, Williams said.

As that investigative report neared completion in recent weeks, Krahling took a less public role, letting his new chief deputy clerk, Lindsey Bachman, become the public face of the office. Krahling hired Bachman in May.

Bachman has handled most media interviews in recent weeks. She’s attended some meetings instead of Krahling. And on the night of Las Cruces’ property tax increase election last week, it was Bachman who announced the results.

In a news release that night, Bachman praised the employees in the clerk’s office.

“The success of this election is a direct result of the hard work and dedication of the Doña Ana County Clerk’s staff,” Bachman said. “Those qualities will also play a key role in the successful administration of the general election taking place this November.”

The clerk’s office has a busy few months coming up. The last day to register to vote in November’s election is Oct. 9. Early and absentee voting begin that day as well. Nov. 6 is Election Day.

Krahling’s resignation may lead to questions about the office’s ability to run the upcoming election, which includes open contests for governor and southern New Mexico’s seat in the U.S. House in addition to other local and state races. While Bachman has not returned a call from NMPolitics.net seeking comment, Williams said county administration has confidence in the clerk’s office.

“We have a good team and a lot of institutional knowledge remaining in that office, and a replacement strategy has already been agreed upon to provide leadership in advance of the elections,” Williams said.

In addition, Toulouse Oliver pledged her support.

“I have tremendous faith in the county staff and that their new county clerk will be well positioned to ensure a successful general election,” the secretary of state said. “My staff and I stand ready to help the Doña Ana County Clerk’s Office in any way necessary to ensure they conduct a safe and secure election.”

Still, the situation is likely to come as a blow to the office’s reputation, which had improved substantially in recent years.

Krahling had developed a reputation for integrity. He served one term on the county commission, from 2009-2012. He essentially voted himself out of office when he chose to support an independent panel’s recommendations for reshaping commission boundaries that moved his home out of the district he represented.

During his time in the clerk’s office, Krahling was known publicly as a forward-thinking official who expanded the office’s mission from simply running elections to also working to increase voter turnout and civic engagement. The Santa Fe New Mexican recently called on other county clerks to follow Krahling’s lead.

Gonzalez praised Krahling on Wednesday for his efforts to increase voting, including “reaching out to our high schools, getting our kids registered to vote.”

“He was on top of it and he was a go-getter and very dynamic,” Gonzalez said. “… He was such a good person.”

Krahling was a leader of the push for election reform. He and others successfully lobbied for a policy change approved by the state this year that consolidates most local elections into one, large election held every other November. He helped convinced the Las Cruces City Council to join the consolidated elections, and to implement ranked choice voting in the city.

But even before the investigation into Krahling and Vasquez, the clerk’s office wasn’t scandal-free under the leadership of Ellins and Krahling. In 2015, while Krahling was chief deputy clerk, four employees of the office were charged in a bi-national scam to cash fraudulently obtained federal tax refund checks. One employee stole personal information from the county’s voter database, including Social Security Numbers. Three others were charged with notarizing documents needed to cash the checks.

And a fifth employee was charged with changing her own payroll records to show a lower salary than she was actually paid so she could qualify for food stamps.

With the office reeling from that scandal, Krahling, who was then a candidate for clerk, suspended his campaign and said he was focusing on restoring trust in the office. At the time, he said he didn’t know whether he would seek election after all. He later opted to continue his campaign, and he won.

Even through that scandal, Ellins and Krahling developed a reputation for competence and fairness – which was new for an office that, before Ellins came on board in 2006, was plagued by problems. A counting error led New Mexico to initially wrongly declare George W. Bush the winner of the state’s five electoral votes in 2000. And a former county clerk was convicted in 2003 of five felony violations of the state’s elections code.

Gonzalez said Krahling will be missed.

“I just want to wish him the best in everything he does,” Gonzalez said. “He’ll bounce back again.”

This article has been updated with comments from Gonzalez, Rawson, Williams and Toulouse Oliver, and additional information and context. It has also been updated to state that applications for the clerk position are due by Sept. 5, not Sept. 10 as Rawson originally told NMPolitics.net.