Washington, D.C. (March 30, 2022)— Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, sent a letter to V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, Ph.D., head of EchoMail, Inc., detailing evidence obtained by the Committee that contradicts his March 18, 2022, response to the Committee in which he denied EchoMail’s involvement in a potentially illegal canvassing of voters in Otero County, New Mexico.
“As part of the Committee’s ongoing investigation, we have obtained evidence contradicting your denial, and we are deeply concerned that your company’s actions in Otero County, and those of your associates, may lead to voter intimidation in violation of Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act,” the Chairs wrote.
On March 16, 2022, the Chairs requested documents and information relating to EchoMail’s involvement in an “audit” and door-to-door voter canvass of the 2020 federal election in Otero County, New Mexico, including EchoMail’s connection to the conspiracist group New Mexico Audit Force (NMAF) that is conducting the canvass.
On March 18, 2022, Dr. Ayyadurai responded to the Committee, failing to provide any of the documents requested and instead asserting that “EchoMail is not associated in any way with any alleged actions by NMAF,” “EchoMail has no canvassers be it in Otero County or any other part of the country or world,” and “EchoMail is not conducting any audit in Otero County.”
Evidence obtained by the Committee contradicts Dr. Ayyadurai’s claims. The leader of the 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 and even used EchoMail’s headquarters as her address.
Dr. Ayyadurai’s connection to NMAF leadership predates the Otero contract. On January 6, 2022, Dr. Ayyadurai appeared on the podcast of conspiracist Joe Oltmann alongside David Clements, the husband of Erin Clements and also a leader of the “audit” movement, where they discussed election audit, canvassing procedures, restoring “credibility” for future election audits, and the “election integrity movement” as a whole.
One week later, on January 13, 2022, Erin and David Clements appeared together before a meeting of the Otero County Commission. Following the Clements’ presentation in favor of a contract with EchoMail, the Commission voted to authorize the “2020 election audit contract and professional services agreement with EchoMail, Inc.”
After the audit and canvass in Otero County were approved by the Otero County Commission, the NMAF repeatedly described Dr. Ayyadurai and EchoMail as leading the audit and explicitly described their canvassing efforts as part of the audit.
“The Committee intends to get to the bottom of this so-called audit and canvass and the threats they pose to free and fair elections. The significant discrepancies between your claims and the multiple filings and statements by NMAF—as well as your apparent admission that EchoMail used data from the door-to-door canvass—reinforce the Committee’s need for the documents we requested,” the Chairs wrote.
The Chairs request that EchoMail produce all documents responsive to the Committee’s March 16 requests by the deadline of March 31, 2022.
Click here to read the letter to EchoMail.