By Jane C. Timm —
NBC News
The state of New Mexico has sued a county official for abusing her power and breaking the law in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections.
The lawsuit alleges that
Yvonne Otero
, a Republican elected in 2020 as
Torrance County
Clerk , discarded and mishandled some ballots, discussed her drug use with co-workers, and fired a Taser near a colleague.
According to the lawsuit, Otero violated procedures by operating the voter certification machines,
spoke to coworkers about his sexual relationships and cocaine use
, and threatened several
employees before leaving office in the fall, before the election.
Otero's attorney, Jacob Candelaria, said the lawsuit contains "outlandish and dramatized" false accusations.
"My client has every intention of defending himself against these false accusations," he said.
And he added that she Otero is seeking a court order to get her county job back.
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The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by the New Mexico State Ethics Commission, an independent state anti-corruption agency that monitors the conduct of government employees and agencies.
Torrance County asked the agency to look into the matter, said Jessica Randall, deputy general counsel for the commission.
He signed documents in advance, to go on vacation
Torrance is a small rural county east of Albuquerque that has been the focus of allegations of voter fraud.
County commissioners have come under fire for certifying the results of the June primary election, leading to an independent recount of ballots there.
The county, whose commissioners first tried to remove Otero in October, recently hired a new clerk after voting to remove Otero for leaving his post.
An ad posted in January says the job pays $69,148 a year, plus benefits.
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Several of the accusations against Otero mention his handling of the ballots for the 2022 midterm elections, which were held on November 8.
To go on vacation, Otero signed documents in advance,
before the tabulating machines were tested and certified, according to the lawsuit.
He also deleted or ignored a handful of absentee ballots sent by email from abroad.
By federal law, the military and citizens abroad can cast their vote this way.
Otero's lawyer said he and his client were unaware of the discarded ballots until the lawsuit was filed, but said she has not denied signing the voter certification forms in advance.
Data cards on ballot counting machine certification forms with the signature of Yvonne Otero, Torrance County Clerk, on Sept. 29, 2022. Andres Leighton / AP file
Alex Curtas, communications director for New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, said she was "unaware, but very concerned" about allegations that ballots cast from abroad were mishandled and properly counted, and that it would carry out its own internal review.
He added that Assistant County Clerk Sylvia Chavez had worked closely with state officials to oversee the county's midterm elections and that she “did a great job.”
Sex with a visitor in the office
The rest of the allegations in the lawsuit range from misuse of government resources — Otero is alleged to have given a staff member's computer to his brother, for example — to more bizarre and inappropriate behavior.
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Otero was observed in the workplace
“groping private parts”
with a visitor, according to the lawsuit, before going into her private office with the individual.
Supposedly, she later claimed to have had sex in her office with phrases like “this is how the probate judge's desk breaks” and “I needed to relieve the stress”.
Candelaria declared that his client received a visit from a friend and that he closed the door to have privacy, but that he did not have sexual relations in the workplace.
“Those are perhaps some of the most outlandish and, in my client's opinion, sexist and discriminatory accusations made against him,” she said.
One incident that both Candelaria and the plaintiffs agree on is that Otero fired a Taser near an employee, but she claimed it was a prank.
Ella Candelaria said that she did it to scare a sleeping partner and that the joke was in "bad taste."
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Otero allegedly requested “non-prescription narcotics” from a subordinate, whom he threatened if the employee did not do as requested.
He also discussed his cocaine use at the office, according to the lawsuit.
On one occasion, in April 2022, Otero told his subordinates that he needed a “little shot” to get through the day, according to the complaint, which adds that Otero admitted to having used cocaine for the past six years.
Candelaria said Otero asked a coworker to get her a prescription and said she did use cocaine outside of work at some point in the past six years to alleviate a medical condition called ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
The attorney denied that her client had used cocaine at work.
“If the Ethics Commission were to punish everyone who used cocaine at any point in the past six years, a good majority of the Legislature would be subject to disciplinary action,” he added.
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The complaint also alleges that Otero stopped coming to work and logging on to his computer at home.
Candelaria said the county attorney had ordered her to work remotely after an employee complained about the taser incident.
"There was never a moment where she abandoned her work obligations, period," he said.
Mario Jimenez, executive director of the Common Cause of New Mexico and a former election official, applauded the Ethics Commission for looking into the matter, but said he was disheartened by the seriousness of the allegations.
"When I read (the lawsuit), I was furious," he told NBC News, "we are losing the trust of the citizens
.
"