Trump expected to visit Albuquerque Thursday - By Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
Former President Donald Trump will visit Albuquerque on Thursday, according to the Republican Party of New Mexico.
The Republican Party of New Mexico announced Sunday on X — formerly known as Twitter — that Trump will campaign in Albuquerque on Thursday at noon but a location has not been released.
Ash Soular, a spokesperson for the Republican Party of New Mexico, confirmed to City Desk ABQ Monday morning the former president will hold a campaign rally in Albuquerque on Thursday but referred requests for additional information to the Trump campaign.
City Desk ABQ contacted the Trump campaign about the location for the rally and was referred to the events page on the campaign’s website but Albuquerque was not listed as one of Trump’s stops as of midday Monday. However, the Republican Party of New Mexico shared a link on social media to register for the event, but without specification about where it will be held.
Trump campaigned in Albuquerque twice in 2016 — once at the Albuquerque Convention Center which was met with a crowd of protestors and devolved into a riot. Later that year, Trump made an appearance at a privately owned airplane hangar near the Albuquerque International Sunport. He also held a rally at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho in 2019.
After the 2019 visit, Mayor Tim Keller’s office sent a bill of $211,175 to the Trump campaign for security costs and paid time off for city employees but the Keller administration says it’s still unpaid. Read more about the cost breakdown here.
City Desk ABQ contacted the Albuquerque Police Department and a spokesperson for Keller’s office about the expected visit but did not receive a response.
Torrance County Clerk apologizes for return address mishap on estimated 140 ballots - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
The lead elections official in Torrance County is apologizing and assuring voters that their ballots will be counted after workers mistakenly mailed about 140 absentee ballots without return address labels.
Republican Torrance County Clerk Linda Jaramillo said the clerks’ office had received more than 100 of those now-completed ballots back as of Friday.
“This was an isolated incident,” said Jaramillo in an interview with Source NM. “It has never happened to my board before, and I apologize.”
Elections workers on the county’s absentee board failed to add the return labels to a batch of ballots that they were sending out in early October, Jaramillo said. The 140 affected voters only for about 1% of the county’s more than 10,000 voters.
Usually, New Mexico absentee ballots have a “pre-paid official return envelope” with the address of the local county clerk’s office.
The missing labels do not have any impact on the ballot’s validity, Jaramillo said, and there will be no issue counting them for Election Day totals.
A voter called to report a missing label in the middle of the outer envelope after the county mailed absentee ballots on Oct. 8, Jaramillo said. She said she then alerted the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office and spoke with post offices in the county.
She said some people wrote the return address back and sent them through the mail, while others placed them in drop boxes or hand delivered them to election sites – all acceptable means of returning an absentee ballot.
“Slowly, we’re eliminating any of them being out there,” Jaramillo said.
Post offices either returned ballots to voters, she said, but also sent a batch to the Torrance County Clerk’s office without the return address.
As of Monday, 557 Torrance County voters returned their absentee ballots, according to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office. In total, 876 voters requested an absentee ballot in Torrance County.
Last week, New Mexico county clerks urged voters to drop off their absentee ballots at election sites or drop boxes to ensure they will be delivered on time, rather than relying on the mail this close to Election Day.
Elections officials around the country are fighting a flood of election conspiracy theories and disinformation pushed by former president Donald Trump and others, while also trying to balance legitimate concerns about delivery delays with the Postal Service.
Jaramillo said she wanted to reassure voters that their votes would be counted and that the event was limited in size and that the ballots have enough time to be returned before Election Day on Nov. 5.
“But something like this happens, and it does cast doubt in people’s minds. And I understand that,” she said. “But I’ve run elections for 25 years and nothing like this has ever happened before.”
Jaramillo was first elected as Torrance County clerk in 1997, and retired from the position in 2020. The county commission appointed her to the job again in 2023 after voting to oust her successor after she stopped showing up for work.
Jaramillo is running unopposed for a Torrance County Commission seat. The current deputy clerk, Sylvia Chavez, is running unopposed as a Republican for Torrance County clerk.
Alex Curtas, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Secretary of State, said in an email Monday there were no other issues with absentee ballots in other counties.
“Our staff at the Secretary of State’s Office have been working closely with the county clerk and the USPS to make sure any ballots that were sent without a pre-printed return address are either addressed by the voter themselves or are delivered to Torrance County even if the return address is blank,” Curtas wrote.
Matilda Graves, the postmaster at Mountainair, declined to comment when reached by Source NM, deferring comment to an official spokesman for the U. S. Postal Service.
John Hyatt, a spokesman for the postal Service, declined an interview request on Monday, but said in a written statement that area post offices are aware of the issue.
“Postal employees in the area are working to collect all the unaddressed returning ballots and provide them to the county’s election office,” Hyatt said.
Two other postmasters in Torrance County could not be reached for comment about the situation Friday.
New Mexico congressional delegation signs legal brief urging court to recognize federal law on abortion care - By Susan Dunlap, New Mexico Political Report
New Mexico’s congressional delegation signed onto an amicus brief arguing that federal law requires stabilizing emergency room patients, including if that care requires an abortion.
More than 250 members of the U.S. Congress signed into the brief.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard a case out of Idaho last year over whether Idaho’s abortion ban nullifies a federal law that requires hospitals to stabilize patients in medical emergencies, regardless of the patient’s ability to pay. But the high court dismissed the case in June, leaving the legal question for the lower court to decide.
That law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, was enacted under former President Ronald Reagan. When Idaho passed its abortion ban shortly after the court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Idaho, saying its ban violated the federal law. Idaho’s abortion ban only allows abortion if providers can determine the patient is about to die.
That leaves little room for providers in emergency rooms to stabilize a patient if doing so requires an abortion. During a six-month period when the law was fully in effect, Idaho hospitals had to transfer patients out-of-state during medical emergencies on a regular basis due to the law.
U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, as well as U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández, Melanie Stansbury and Gabe Vasquez, all Democrats, signed onto the legal brief urging the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm that abortion care qualifies as emergency stabilizing care under EMTALA. Stansbury represents congressional district one, Vasquez represents congressional district two and Leger Fernández represents congressional district three.
Conservatives have argued that EMTALA does not explicitly mention abortion care. It is a similar argument to the one the Supreme Court used to reverse Roe v. Wade, that since the founding fathers did not explicitly mention abortion as a right in the 1700s, the court could not interpret the 14th amendment as including it.
Due to state bans on abortion, New Mexico has felt the effects even as it wrestles with significant provider shortages and a healthcare system largely reliant upon Medicaid for its medical payer model.
“In this case, respecting the supremacy of federal law is about more than just protecting our system of government; it is about protecting people’s lives,” the New Mexico congressional delegation said jointly through a news release.
The amicus brief, in support of the U.S. DOJ’s position, says that the 99th Congress, which passed EMTALA, did so to “ensure that every person who visits a Medicare-funded hospital with an ‘emergency medical condition’ is offered stabilizing treatment.”
“Congress chose broad language for that mandate, requiring hospitals that participate in the Medicare program to provide ‘such treatment as may be required to stabilize the medical condition.’ That text—untouched by Congress for the past three decades—makes clear that in situations in which a doctor determines that abortion constitutes the ‘necessary stabilizing treatment’ for a pregnant patient, federal law requires the hospital to offer it. Yet Idaho has made providing that care a felony, in direct contravention of EMTALA’s mandate,” the brief states.
New Mexico jail officer accused of orchestrating attacks on inmates, report says — Associated Press
A corrections officer at a New Mexico county jail is accused of orchestrating attacks in the shower on two inmates who suffer from mental illness, according to a police report.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office incident report obtained by the Albuquerque Journal says that security camera footage showed inmates "attacking other inmates while under the supervision" of the officer, Nathan Shpiller.
Johanna Sandoval, the mother of one of the inmates, told the newspaper that her son, 61, is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and requires daily medication. She said the allegations are "terrible."
Shpiller, an officer at the jail since November 2022, declined to comment. He has not been charged.
Candace Hopkins, a spokesperson for the jail, also declined to comment, citing an ongoing internal investigation. Shpiller was removed from duty in August and is on paid leave while the department investigates.
Inmates who were involved in the attacks said they believed Shpiller targeted two inmates because of their mental health issues, the newspaper reported.
According to the incident report, the officer is also accused of using pepper spray on one of the inmates while he was alone and naked in his cell. Security footage showed Shpiller repeatedly pointing his pepper spray into the food port of the inmate's cell, the newspaper reported.
The incidents occurred in July, according to the report.
'Very blatant': Santa Fe seeks to tackle proliferation of RFK Jr. signs - By Cormac Dodd, Santa Fe New Mexican
A bare wire stand jutted out from the concrete median at the intersection of St. Francis Drive and Cerrillos Road around noon Monday.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reported two hours earlier, a campaign sign for former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had greeted vehicles at the busy intersection, which is also a railroad crossing.
“Kennedy. Shanahan. The Future Starts Now,” the white sign read.
Over the weekend, a dizzying volume of Kennedy signs relaying the message of a suspended presidential campaign appeared on public property in the state’s capital city. It was unclear who was responsible for planting them en masse in medians and along some major thoroughfares. But several remained in the median of St. Francis Drive on Monday morning.
There were no signs nearby for former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, or Democratic nominee Kamala Harris as city employees worked to remove the Kennedy signs from rights of way.
The appearance of the signs comes a few months after Kennedy suspended his campaign and threw his support behind Trump. Although he left the race in August, Kennedy’s name is still on the ballot in New Mexico.
The signs appear to be official campaign signs and read “Paid For By Team Kennedy” across the bottom. The Kennedy campaign did not respond to a list of emailed questions Monday.
Leticia Lopez of Santa Fe said she noticed about 20 Kennedy signs in the Cerrillos Road area and said “it was stunning to see such a blatant act of what appears to be malice, certainly dishonesty because it takes a concerted effort to put that volume of signs up.”
A prominently displayed banner at the top of Kennedy’s campaign website reads “A Vote for Trump is a Vote for Kennedy.” Still, the campaign continues to be active in New Mexico with a series of events scheduled in the state from now until the Nov. 5 election, including one held Monday at an Albuquerque coffee shop.
For Lopez, the signs “seem to be a scam and an effort to siphon votes away from Harris-Walz and help Trump.”
“Dishonesty really harms our community. Intentionally lying and being reckless with the truth takes away people’s voting rights by lying to them about who is a legitimate candidate,” she said.
Vidal Garcia, a code inspection official for the city of Santa Fe, said four inspectors were removing Kennedy signs from public property Monday. Such positioning of the political signs ran afoul of a city ordinance, he noted.
“What they did was very blatant. I’ve been doing this for 11 years, and I think this was the most blatant that I’ve ever seen,” Garcia added.
“We recognized the problem on Friday morning, removed the signs that were in question,” he said. “We weren’t able to remove all of them because there were just so many of them. I guess whoever is putting those signs up went out again this weekend and put them back up again.”
While some signs still remained standing near the intersection of Cerrillos Road and St. Francis Drive early Monday afternoon, the number had been reduced substantially. An employee who was out pulling up a Kennedy sign near a gas station on St. Francis Drive had a trunk laden with them.
At least two Kennedy signs were loose near or in a roadway, including one lying flat in a turn lane of St. Francis Drive.
“No portable sign shall extend over or into any street, alley, sidewalk or other public thoroughfare,” reads part of a city ordinance on the placement of signs on city property.
“The only case in which a sign can extend into City right-of-way is when a license agreement has been signed. The components of the license agreement include the fact that the property owner assumes liability in case someone is hurt by the sign,” city spokesperson Regina Ruiz wrote in an email.
A letter from Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said Kennedy had qualified for the ballot in July. His campaign had turned in 11,202 signatures in New Mexico, more than triple the 3,561, or one-half of 1% of the number of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election, required under state law.
Kennedy did not file the paperwork required to remove his name from the New Mexico ballot.
According to The New York Times, Kennedy said he would pull his name from ballots in battleground states but did not withdraw his name in a number of states, including New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado.
'Very blatant': Santa Fe seeks to tackle proliferation of RFK Jr. signs - By Cormac Dodd, Santa Fe New Mexican
A bare wire stand jutted out from the concrete median at the intersection of St. Francis Drive and Cerrillos Road around noon Monday.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reported two hours earlier, a campaign sign for former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had greeted vehicles at the busy intersection, which is also a railroad crossing.
“Kennedy. Shanahan. The Future Starts Now,” the white sign read.
Over the weekend, a dizzying volume of Kennedy signs relaying the message of a suspended presidential campaign appeared on public property in the state’s capital city. It was unclear who was responsible for planting them en masse in medians and along some major thoroughfares. But several remained in the median of St. Francis Drive on Monday morning.
There were no signs nearby for former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, or Democratic nominee Kamala Harris as city employees worked to remove the Kennedy signs from rights of way.
The appearance of the signs comes a few months after Kennedy suspended his campaign and threw his support behind Trump. Although he left the race in August, Kennedy’s name is still on the ballot in New Mexico.
The signs appear to be official campaign signs and read “Paid For By Team Kennedy” across the bottom. The Kennedy campaign did not respond to a list of emailed questions Monday.
Leticia Lopez of Santa Fe said she noticed about 20 Kennedy signs in the Cerrillos Road area and said “it was stunning to see such a blatant act of what appears to be malice, certainly dishonesty because it takes a concerted effort to put that volume of signs up.”
A prominently displayed banner at the top of Kennedy’s campaign website reads “A Vote for Trump is a Vote for Kennedy.” Still, the campaign continues to be active in New Mexico with a series of events scheduled in the state from now until the Nov. 5 election, including one held Monday at an Albuquerque coffee shop.
For Lopez, the signs “seem to be a scam and an effort to siphon votes away from Harris-Walz and help Trump.”
“Dishonesty really harms our community. Intentionally lying and being reckless with the truth takes away people’s voting rights by lying to them about who is a legitimate candidate,” she said.
Vidal Garcia, a code inspection official for the city of Santa Fe, said four inspectors were removing Kennedy signs from public property Monday. Such positioning of the political signs ran afoul of a city ordinance, he noted.
“What they did was very blatant. I’ve been doing this for 11 years, and I think this was the most blatant that I’ve ever seen,” Garcia added.
“We recognized the problem on Friday morning, removed the signs that were in question,” he said. “We weren’t able to remove all of them because there were just so many of them. I guess whoever is putting those signs up went out again this weekend and put them back up again.”
While some signs still remained standing near the intersection of Cerrillos Road and St. Francis Drive early Monday afternoon, the number had been reduced substantially. An employee who was out pulling up a Kennedy sign near a gas station on St. Francis Drive had a trunk laden with them.
At least two Kennedy signs were loose near or in a roadway, including one lying flat in a turn lane of St. Francis Drive.
“No portable sign shall extend over or into any street, alley, sidewalk or other public thoroughfare,” reads part of a city ordinance on the placement of signs on city property.
“The only case in which a sign can extend into City right-of-way is when a license agreement has been signed. The components of the license agreement include the fact that the property owner assumes liability in case someone is hurt by the sign,” city spokesperson Regina Ruiz wrote in an email.
A letter from Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said Kennedy had qualified for the ballot in July. His campaign had turned in 11,202 signatures in New Mexico, more than triple the 3,561, or one-half of 1% of the number of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election, required under state law.
Kennedy did not file the paperwork required to remove his name from the New Mexico ballot.
According to The New York Times, Kennedy said he would pull his name from ballots in battleground states but did not withdraw his name in a number of states, including New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado.
County clerks urge New Mexico voters to drop off, rather than mail, their absentee ballots - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
New Mexico elections officials are asking voters to drop off their absentee ballots at elections offices or in secure drop boxes, rather than posting them to ensure they are received in time to count.
Voters who haven’t already mailed their ballots should not rely on the U.S. Postal Service this close to the election, said Santa Fe County Clerk Katherine Clark said in a media release.
“At this point, mailing your ballot may delay it,” Clark said, urging voters to drop off the ballots at voting centers, open poll sites or in secure drop boxes.
The consensus from New Mexico elections officials is that ballots mailed before this past Tuesday, Oct. 22, will arrive on time.
New Mexico state law requires the clerk’s office to physically receive all mail-in ballots by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5, in order to be counted.
Ballots arriving via mail to the clerk’s office after Election Day cannot be counted.
Mitchell Cox, the voter outreach coordinator for Santa Fe County, said that his office has seen a variety of postmark times on mail-in ballots. Some ballots are arriving after a few days, but often taking longer.
“Generally, it takes a week, each way, for ballots to travel by mail, even within the state,” Cox said.
For years, elections officials throughout the U.S. have been combating election disinformation spread by former President Donald Trump and Republican officials about how absentee ballots are counted, while also balancing concerns about post office delays which has disenfranchised voters across the country.
In a September letter, elections officials nationwide reported receiving “dozens to hundreds of ballots 10 or more days after postmark”
Voting locations are open in New Mexico Monday through Saturday until Nov. 2, and can be found on the New Mexico Secretary of State’s voter portal, or by contacting the local county clerk’s office.
There are no voting centers open on the Sunday or Monday before Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5, when polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.