A tech company involved in a controversial “audit” of the 2020 presidential election is refusing to turn over records to a congressional committee, claiming it’s uninvolved with the worst allegations of voter intimidation.
But a new letter from the House Oversight Committee argues otherwise.
In January, commissioners in Otero County, New Mexico, voted to conduct an examination of the county’s 2020 election. Never mind that the county voted for Donald Trump, or that allegations of widespread voter fraud have been repeatedly debunked—the committee awarded a nearly $50,000 contract to EchoMail, which was previously involved in another discredited audit in Maricopa County, Arizona. Part of EchoMail’s audit proposal involved contracting with a conspiracy-promoting Telegram group called the New Mexico Audit Force (NMAF), which would knock on Otero County doors and ask residents about their 2020 votes.
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NMAF canvassers have been accused of misrepresenting themselves during the home visits, prompting alarm from state and federal officials, and an investigation by the House Oversight Committee. The House investigation, launched on March 16, is probing whether the Otero County audit “illegally interferes with Americans’ right to vote by spreading disinformation about elections and intimidating voters.”
Now, EchoMail is declining to participate in the congressional probe, citing what Congress describes as a dubious argument.
“EchoMail is not conducting any audit in Otero County and was contracted to solely provide a data warehouse system including professional services,” EchoMail CEO Shiva Ayyadurai wrote in a response to the congressional probe. He also denied any involvement with the NMAF’s actions. (Neither he nor EchoMail immediately returned requests for comment.)
House Oversight leaders are skeptical, a Wednesday letter to Ayyadurai shows. Specifically, the letter reveals that the NMAF’s leader, Erin Clements, invoked EchoMail’s name when submitting official requests for state and local documents.
“The leader of NMAF, Erin Clements, submitted official requests for voter information to the Otero County Clerk’s Office and the State of New Mexico in which she stated that she was representing EchoMail,” the Oversight letter notes. On a signed affidavit attached to that request, “Ms. Clements wrote that she was ‘representing EchoMail.’”
In another affidavit, Clements wrote that she was requesting voter data “on behalf of EchoMail and New Mexico Audit Force.” The letter also notes that Clements cited EchoMail’s contract with Otero County, and listed EchoMail’s address as her own while submitting the requests. When requesting local voting rolls, she wrote that they would be “used for the purposes of analysis for the audit as well as canvassing to confirm accuracy of the rolls as commissioned by the Otero County Commission.”
The Oversight letter also highlights Ayyadurai’s long-standing connections to Clements and her husband David, who is also an audit leader. On January 6, 2022, Ayyadurai and David Clements appeared on a conspiracist webshow together, where they discussed election audits and their trip to MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s “cyber symposium” on supposed election fraud.
The letter also cites a January presentation by the Clementses before the Otero County Commission, in which the couple advocated for the county’s contract with EchoMail. The couple described the NMAF’s work with EchoMail under the proposed contract. “No distinction was made during the presentation between the proposed actions of EchoMail and NMAF,” the House Oversight letter notes.
The letter goes on to describe repeated instances in which the NMAF described itself as an EchoMail partner. It also suggests that Ayyadurai has been in contact with David Clements, who previously called for “firing squads” against people he believes to have facilitated voter fraud.
“The Committee also has reason to believe that you are in direct communication with Mr. Clements,” the letter reads, pointing to Clements’ own claims on Telegram, in which he describes alleged conversations with Ayyadurai.
Ayyadurai is a well-known proponent of election fraud conspiracy theories in his own right, and participated in a similar “audit” of Maricopa County after Arizona’s 2020 election. During that audit process, Ayyadurai and EchoMail made a number of quickly debunked claims about supposed errors on Maricopa County ballots.
EchoMail and the NMAF have been linked in other instances, not cited in the latest House Oversight letter.
A recent draft proposal signed by all three Otero County commissioners also describes the NMAF as working with EchoMail on the audit. The proposal, if passed, would have required NMAF canvassers to clarify that they are not Otero County officials.
“We understand and appreciate that New Mexico Audit Force partnered with Echomail to provide volunteer services in furtherance of the 2020 Election Audit directed by this commission,” the March 10 proposal reads.
The commissioners ultimately voted against the proposal, stating that they feared it would impede the canvassers’ efforts.
The NMAF was also involved in handling physical ballots during an audit procedure earlier this month, where the group worked alongside Otero County officials, the Alamogordo Daily News reported. At that recount, Erin Clements described herself as “the process supervisor [...] overseeing each staffing station.”
At that event, Clements reportedly described her group as volunteering with EchoMail on the audit.
The House Oversight Committee is requesting EchoMail and Ayyadurai’s documents related to the Otero County audit and canvass, including communications with the Clementses, the NMAF, Otero County commissioners, and a series of “Stop The Steal” conspiracy theorists.
Despite EchoMail’s objections, the latest House Oversight letter indicates that it has not given the company an extension to produce the documents. They’re still due Thursday, March 31.
