On Monday, the Daily Beast published a piece highlighting the highly weird election audit Otero County, New Mexico’s commissioners unanimously voted to authorize that already faces pushback less than a month after being approved. The New Mexico state auditor opened an inquiry into the contract Otero County awarded to EchoMail, Inc.—the same company’s Maricopa County audit reports that were released in collaboration with CyberNinjas and CyFIR, which are still touted by the state’s Senate GOP Caucus but have been wholly disproven by officials. Speaking with the Daily Beast, State Auditor Brian Colón questioned the county’s decision to award a $49,750 to EchoMail, Inc. in the first place. “Is there supporting justification for expenditures? That’s where we get into the contemplation of whether or not this is wasteful spending,” Colón said, “or if it is in the best interest of the citizens of Otero County.”

Otero County overwhelmingly voted in favor of Donald Trump in the 2020 election, but state results showed Biden claiming New Mexico by a margin of more than 10 points. It would take nearly 100,000 more votes for Trump to somehow emerge as victorious in New Mexico.

Nonetheless, county commissioners—including Cowboys for Trump Founder Couy Griffin—are all-in on the Big Lie. Griffin, you may remember, not only participated in the insurrection but is facing trial for one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful entry. Were Griffin to be found guilty, he may finally lose his job. According to the New Mexico County Commissioner handbook, commissioners may be relieved of their duties due to “conviction of any felony or of any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude.” It’s not like Griffin being absent would do a lot of good, as his fellow commissioners Gerald Matherly and Vickie Marquardt are both ardent Republicans who clearly think this whole audit thing is a good idea. Both have, however, banded together to call on Griffin to resign due to being arrested for his participation in the Jan. 6 riot, during which he gave a speech by bullhorn outside the Capitol.

Sedition isn’t a good look for the commissioners, but Matherly and Marquardt seemingly had no problem with Griffin expensing a $3,237 trip to meet with Trump in 2020. The two said nothing about Griffin’s shady monetary dealings, which included using funds from a Cowboys for Trump GoFundMe to pay child support to an ex-wife. Griffin was accused of embezzlement, racketeering, money laundering, and making or permitting a false voucher for public funds in 2021. An Attorney General’s Office investigation found that he misused funds. It’s par for the course that this trio would be fine blowing $50,000 on EchoMail, Inc., the founder of which claimed that he invented email (he didn’t) and is known more for his election misinformation campaign than providing actual results in his audits. It should come as no surprise that this latest audit will be led by former New Mexico State University law professor David Clements, who was fired for putting the entire campus at risk by failing to adhere to COVID-19 safety protocols. Clements happens to be married to Erin Clements, a woman who considers herself an “election integrity warrior” and is charged with leading New Mexico Audit Force (NMAF), an organization with seemingly no paper trail but one hell of a Telegram presence.

The NMAF will be canvassing voters to verify their voter information, check their signatures, and just generally be nuisances to Otero County residents. The group has promised not to ask who voters cast their ballots for in the 2020 election, but Otero County Attorney R.B. Nichols is understandably skeptical. “Some people are not going to like someone coming up to their door and asking them about where they’re registered to vote, how they’re registered to vote. Some people could see that as intimidation,” Nichols said, according to the Alamogordo Daily News. Someone who has seemingly no problem with this plan? MAGA lawyer Lin Wood, who gleefully promoted a NMAF fundraiser recently and, thanks to his backing, was able to raise $20,000 for the group according to its Telegram channel. Wood’s #FightBack Foundation, which has a special tab for donations explicitly for the New Mexico audit, is run by the former attorney for Kyle Rittenhouse and his fellow fired colleague Lawson Pedigo. Both launched #FightBack to raise funds for Rittenhouse—who claims he barely saw a penny—and support other fringe right-wing causes. Even if #FightBack manages to raise the full $100,000 requested by NMAF, who can say if that money will ever make it past the pockets of Wood and Pedigo?