MAGA 'Audit' Shrugged Off Complaint About Doorknocking Pedophile

A local complained about an alleged sex criminal going door to door amid a far-right “canvas” of voters. The county didn’t investigate.

Kelly Weill
Reporter
Updated May. 13, 2022 4:08 AM ET / Published May. 13, 2022 12:02 AM ET

On Feb. 23, a resident of Otero County, New Mexico sent a worried email to one of the county’s three commissioners.

“My neighbor was a volunteer for [children’s aid group] CASA and she recognized someone who came to her door asking how she voted in November 2021 as someone who either was convicted or pleaded guilty to sex with a child,” the Otero County resident wrote. “She is terrified. She has grandchildren she cares for. Did the County perform background checks on the volunteers going to voters homes?”

The email came in reference to a then-ongoing “canvass” of local voter rolls, as part of an “audit” of Otero County’s 2020 presidential election. Like a previous effort in Maricopa County, New Mexico, the audit attracted a conspiratorial crowd that had falsely attributed Donald Trump’s reelection loss to voter fraud. As part of the audit, a conspiracy-promoting Telegram group, the New Mexico Audit Force (NMAF), was commissioned to knock on locals’ doors and ask them questions about their 2020 votes and their voter registrations.

A new tranche of Otero County communications, first obtained via public records request by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, sheds light on locals’ concerns about the home visits.

Within an hour of receiving the email complaining of an alleged child sex offender knocking on doors, the Otero County commissioner forwarded the message to the county’s attorney, R.B. Nichols. Nichols quickly texted Erin Clements, leader of the NMAF.

More:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-audit-shrugged-off-complaint-about-doorknocking-pedophile?ref=scroll