A US Congressional Hearing was held in Santa Fe on Monday to hear how New Mexico is working to protect ballot access.
The Subcommittee on Elections of the Committee
on House Administration heard from voting rights advocates groups and Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver.
The panelist described what they have done to try and help voters in the state get registered and make sure their votes are counted.
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver says voters can have easy access to the ballot without being at the expense of an accurate vote count.
“Ballot access and ballot security do not come at the expense of one another and we in New Mexico prove that point during every election,” she said.
Toulouse Oliver and other panelists say a bigger problem is a lack of proper funding for elections and the widespread misinformation and disinformation that prevails on social media sites. They say more needs to be done to counteract the falsehoods.
Congresswoman Melanie Stanbury calls it the biggest threat facing our democracy.
“As we’ve seen over the past several election cycles the propagation of misinformation and especially through digital media and through social media has helped to spread misinformation to regular voters,” she said. “That has affected their perception of what is happening in our elections, that has affected their beliefs in our democracy, and our core institutions and about the outcome of the election itself.”
The subcommittee has been holding hearings around the county to discuss voting rights and other election issues.
The panel came to New Mexico to hear about the state’s same day, online and automatic voter registration laws and how similar legislation could be passed nationwide.