{"id":37661,"date":"2012-03-06T10:26:29","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T17:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=37661"},"modified":"2012-03-06T18:53:22","modified_gmt":"2012-03-07T01:53:22","slug":"state-police-out-in-force-in-sunland-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/03\/state-police-out-in-force-in-sunland-park\/","title":{"rendered":"State police out in force in Sunland Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Various

Various campaigns working to win voters near a polling place in Sunland Park earlier today.<\/p><\/div>\n

DA expects to soon charge another person with illegally influencing El Paso residents to vote in NM; meanwhile, Election Day voting is running smoothly but turnout is light.<\/h4>\n

N.M. State Police officers are out in force in Sunland Park during today\u2019s election to investigate, provide protection for state officials and reassure residents that they can safely vote.<\/p>\n

\"A

A scene from the Sunland Park Fire Station, one of two polling places in the city.<\/p><\/div>\n

Some officers are patrolling the city to ensure the election runs smoothly, Do\u00f1a Ana County District Attorney Amy Orlando<\/a> said. Another is there to gather evidence, including absentee ballots cast by Texans. And two officers are there to provide protection for Secretary of State Dianna Duran<\/a> and State Auditor Hector Balderas<\/a>, who are both in the city conducting investigations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to make sure our elected officials are protected during what could be a heated day,\u201d Orlando said.<\/p>\n

How we got here<\/h3>\n

The police presence comes in the wake of the arrests of several city officials, including Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Salinas (who is running for mayor), on extortion<\/a> and other charges related to the election. Most recently, the director of Sunland Park\u2019s senior center, Silvia Gomez, was arrested on felony charges<\/a> alleging she influenced two El Paso residents to illegally vote for Salinas.<\/p>\n

Gomez bonded out of jail Monday.<\/p>\n

Orlando has said people \u201cassociated with the electoral process in Sunland Park,\u201d Salinas\u2019 campaign, and Sunland Park city government \u201chave attempted to illegally influence the vote and the campaign results for the Mar. 6 election.\u201d Though the district attorney and secretary of state believe the election\u2019s integrity has been compromised, a district judge last week ordered things to proceed today as planned<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So law enforcement and county elections officials are trying to ensure the integrity of the election from this point forward.<\/p>\n

Election Day running smoothly; probe continues<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a Ana County Clerk Lynn Ellins<\/a> is also in Sunland Park today, and said so far the election is running smoothly. Election Day turnout is light. As of about 9:30 a.m., 28 people had voted at the city\u2019s two polling places. By contrast, close to 500 votes were cast early.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been calm. It\u2019s been peaceful,\u201d Ellins said.<\/p>\n

At least some votes cast before Election Day won\u2019t be counted. Orlando said early in-person votes cast by people who aren\u2019t Sunland Park residents can\u2019t be tracked and disqualified. So far, she said investigators know of 15-20 early in-person votes cast by Texans that will be counted toward the final results.<\/p>\n

But absentee ballots cast by Texans and other people who don\u2019t live in Sunland Park can be identified and tossed out. Orlando said investigators know of 4-6 of those, and a state police officer will confiscate them as evidence when they are opened this evening.<\/p>\n

Orlando said the criminal investigation continues. Additional people who registered and voted early in the election have come forward to cooperate in exchange for amnesty. She said she expects that another person will be arrested soon and charged with influencing people who don\u2019t live in Sunland Park to vote in the election.<\/p>\n

DA urges Sunland Park residents to vote<\/h3>\n

Orlando urged Sunland Park residents to vote today, saying state police are there to ensure they can.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re there to make sure all the citizens of Sunland Park feel secure from any threats and bullying,\u201d Orlando said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

N.M. State Police officers are out in force in Sunland Park during today\u2019s election to investigate, provide protection for state officials and reassure residents that they can safely vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,114,167,225],"class_list":["post-37661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-public-corruption","tag-sunland-park","tag-voter-fraud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}