Española city councilor’s wife, ex-campaign aide indicted
Pair face voter fraud charges stemming from contested 2016 municipal election
Two years after questions were first raised about the election of Española City Councilor Robert Seeds, the state Attorney General’s Office has obtained grand jury indictments against the councilor’s wife and a former campaign assistant, charging them with multiple felony counts related to allegations of voter fraud during the 2016 municipal election.
Laura Seeds, whose husband is now a candidate for mayor in the city’s March 6 election, faces 13 counts, including 10 counts of unlawful possession of absentee ballots, falsifying election documents, conspiracy to violate the municipal election code and making false statements relative to the municipal election code. Dyon Herrera is charged with two counts of falsifying election documents, conspiracy to violate the municipal election code and making false statements relative to the municipal election code.
Seeds was elected to the City Council by a two-vote margin over incumbent Cory Lewis. The final count was 238-236. Seeds received 94 votes by absentee ballot while Lewis received 10 votes by absentee ballot.
Following the election, Lewis filed a voter fraud complaint in state District Court, alleging that the signatures on nearly two dozen absentee ballots did not match the signatures on voter registration cards and that Seeds’ supporters had stolen the election by submitting fraudulent absentee ballots.
After a one-day bench trial, District Judge Sarah Singleton ruled that the evidence presented did not support Lewis’ allegations.
But New Mexico State Police had opened a criminal investigation into Laura Seeds and Herrera’s actions after Española City Clerk Anna Squires wrote to the Secretary of State’s Office while the election was still pending, expressing concerns about irregularities with absentee ballots that involved Laura Seeds and Herrera.
Squires wrote in her letter that Laura Seeds had accompanied a female voter who claimed to be delivering the absentee ballots of four siblings to an early voting site, and that when an election clerk noted that one of the ballots was not signed, the woman said she would take the ballot to her brother who was in a vehicle parked nearby.
Laura Seeds and the woman left and returned shortly with a signed ballot, according to Squires, but the clerk said that she did not see a man inside the vehicle, instead spotting only Laura Seeds and the female voter.
Squires also wrote that Laura Seeds on another occasion delivered absentee ballot applications while accompanied by Herrera. Herrera’s grandmother called him while he was at the voting site and he passed the phone to election officials, who were told by Herrera’s grandmother that Herrera’s grandfather had accidentally ripped up their absentee ballots, the letter said.
The next day, Herrera returned with the torn ballots, which election officials taped and put into a sealed envelope. An election official reported then watching Herrera go outside, where he opened the envelopes, returning minutes later with signatures on the envelopes. Herrera claimed his grandparents signed the envelopes while seated in a vehicle outside the polling site, Squires wrote. She said election officials did not see any elderly passengers in the vehicle, only young people.
Herrera in 2016 was charged in Española Magistrate Court with crimes related to the alleged election fraud, but
the charges were dropped pending grand jury proceedings.
An attempt to contact Herrera for comment Friday was unsuccessful.
A person who answered the phone Friday at Robert Seeds’ towing business said the city councilor and his wife were out of town. They did not respond to a message seeking comment for this story.
Each of the charges against Laura Seeds and Herrera are fourth-degree felonies punishable by up to 18 months in prison. Laura Seeds faces nearly 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts, while Herrera would face a maximum of six years.
Attorney General’s Office spokesman James Hallinan said in an email Friday that even if Seeds and Herrera were convicted, it would not negate the results of Española’s 2016 municipal election, in which Seeds was elected to a four-year council term.
Contact Phaedra Haywood at 505-986-3068 or phaywood@ sfnewmexican.com. Follow her on Twitter @phaedraann.