EDITORIAL: Reserve Vote Controversy Hits The Television Screen

By John Severance
Mountain Mail editor

KRQE Channel 13 investigative reporter Larry Barker weighed in on the Reserve vote controversy.
The gist of the story is that Reserve is not the only place where there are close elections that come under scrutiny. He also cited elections in other communities across New Mexico.
The other highlights of the story are that people are voting in places they don’t live, it’s the voter’s responsibility to register where they are actually living, you have to change your voter registration if you move and if you cast a ballot in your old precinct, that could be a crime.
Barker interviewed Bob Caylor, who lost the election by one vote but who is contesting it in court. And Barker talked to people listed in the complaint that voted but don’t live in the municipality.
I do know that Caylor finally got in contact with the Secretary of State’s office. The Secretary of State’s office asked Caylor to provide it with information for its investigation. If the office finds any irregularities, they will be forwarded to the Attorney General’s office.
And there will soon be a hearing in the suit that Caylor brought against Keith Riddle, who won the election by a vote.
William Perkins, the Village attorney who is representing Riddle, filed a motion to dismiss on May 14 on the grounds that Caylor and his attorney, Sherry Tippett, missed the 30-day deadline to contest the election by three days.
Like everything else these days, all of this will be hashed out in the courtroom.

Co-Op Business

Much has been made about the Socorro Electric Cooperative after the annual meeting. Co-op attorney Dennis Francish says the trustees can live by the old rules as they conduct their business.
The co-op, though, will be following two of the resolutions. It will have its only meeting of the month on Wednesday, May 26 and there will be time set aside at that meeting for member-owners to address the board.

Graduation

Friday will be an exciting time with area schools holding their graduations. Seniors, have fun and enjoy the moment. Most importantly, though, be safe and don’t drink and drive.

Condolences

The Mountain Mail expresses its condolences to the family of one of our owners, Jonathan Jaramillo. Jonathan’s wife Teresa passed away this week in Connecticut. An obituary can be found on page 3 of the Mountain Mail.

Correction

Because of a computer glitch, the Mountain Mail inadvertently left out the final two words of the Socorro baseball story on page 7 last week. The last sentence should have read: “All of a sudden, they’re getting a lot more base runners.”

EDITORIAL: Reserve Vote Controversy Hits The Television Screen