[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]





 
         VOTING IN AMERICA: ACCESS TO THE BALLOT IN NEW MEXICO

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               before the

                       SUBCOMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS

                           COMMITTEE ON HOUSE
                             ADMINISTRATION
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

                             APRIL 11, 2022

                               __________

      Printed for the use of the Committee on House Administration
      
      
      
      
      
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                       Available on the Internet:
         http://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-administration
         
         
         
         
         
         
                            ______

             U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 
48-055               WASHINGTON : 2022         
         
         
         
                   COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION

                  ZOE LOFGREN, California, Chairperson
JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland               RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois,
G. K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina      Ranking Member
PETE AGUILAR, California             BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia
MARY GAY SCANLON, Pennsylvania       BRYAN STEIL, Wisconsin
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico

                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                             APRIL 11, 2022

                                                                   Page
Voting in America: Access to the Ballot in New Mexico............     1

                           OPENING STATEMENTS

Chairman G. K. Butterfield.......................................     1
    Prepared statement of Chairman Butterfield...................     4
Hon. Teresa Leger Fernandez......................................     6
    Prepared statement of Hon. Leger Fernandez...................     8

                               WITNESSES

Ahtza Dawn Chavez, Executive Director, NAVA Education Project....    12
    Prepared statement of Ms. Chavez.............................    15
Heather Ferguson, Executive Director, Common Cause New Mexico....    20
    Prepared statement of Ms. Ferguson...........................    22
Hon. Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Secretary of State, State of New 
  Mexico.........................................................    33
    Prepared statement of Hon. Toulouse Oliver...................    36
Andrea Serrano, Executive Director, OLE..........................    40
    Prepared statement of Ms. Serrano............................    42

                        QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD

Hon. Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Secretary of State, State of New 
  Mexico responses...............................................    61


         VOTING IN AMERICA: ACCESS TO THE BALLOT IN NEW MEXICO

                              ----------                              


                         MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2022

                  House of Representatives,
                         Subcommittee on Elections,
                         Committee on House Administration,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 12:02 p.m., in 
the New Mexico State Capitol, 490 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, 
New Mexico, Hon. G.K. Butterfield [Chairman of the 
Subcommittee] presiding.
    Present: Representatives Butterfield and Leger Fernandez.
    Also Present: Representative Stansbury.
    Staff Present: Dan Taylor, Senior Counsel; Sarah Nasta, 
Elections Counsel; Sierra Norton, Communications Staff; Sean 
Jones, Professional Staff Member; Peter Whippy, Communications 
Director; Elizabeth Arevalo (Rep. Leger Fernandez Legislative 
Director) and Peter Whippy, Communications Director.
    Chairman Butterfield. The Subcommittee on Elections of the 
Committee on House Administration will now come to order. As I 
said a few moments ago, good morning to all of you, and thank 
all of you so very much for coming and participating in this 
very important hearing.
    As I say in all our field hearings across the country, this 
is not a political event. This is an official event sponsored 
by the Committee on House Administration for the U.S. House of 
Representatives. It is a very serious hearing. It is all about 
collecting and gathering information that will be of value to 
us as we legislate and try to protect the integrity of the 
elections.
    As we begin this morning, I want to note that we are 
holding this hearing in compliance with the regulations for 
Remote Committee Proceedings pursuant to House Resolution No. 
8. I ask unanimous consent that the Chair be authorized to 
declare a recess of the Subcommittee at any point today, and 
that all Members have five legislative days in which to revise 
and extend their remarks and have any written statements be 
made a part of the record.
    I hear no objections, it is therefore so ordered.
    I am hearing an echo. Is that something that can be cured 
or we are just going to have to live with it? I don't know 
where the echo is coming from. All right. We will try to work 
through that. I think it has been solved.
    I ask unanimous consent that Congresswoman Melanie 
Stansbury, a dear friend from the House--she represents the 
First Congressional District of this great State. I ask 
unanimous consent that she be invited to join the Subcommittee 
today and without objection, so ordered.
    Let me also thank--say thank you to our colleague, 
Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez, who I have really, really 
developed a strong relationship with over the few months that 
she has been with us in the Congress. As we all know, she 
represents the Third Congressional District of New Mexico, and 
so we want to thank her for warmly receiving us today in Santa 
Fe and hosting us for this event.
    And let me say, finally, to the New Mexico State Capitol, 
thank you for hosting us today. I know the Governor of this 
State, we served together in the House many years ago, and it 
is just a delight to be in her State and in her Capitol. And to 
the legislators who make this beautiful facility available, 
thank you for opening your doors to us today.
    We are here today to examine voting and access to the 
ballot in the State of New Mexico. While many States have 
sought to erect barriers that curb access to the ballot in 
recent years, this great State, New Mexico, this great State 
has moved in the opposite direction by improving access to the 
ballot box for all your voters.
    New Mexico has successfully implemented pro-democracy 
policies, such as online voter registration, automatic voter 
registration, same-day registration, two weeks of early in-
person voting, and no-excuse absentee voting, among others. 
That is wonderful.
    In response to the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2020 
elections, county clerks were authorized to automatically mail 
absentee ballot applications to eligible voters for the 
November general election. The number of voters who voted by 
mail more than tripled in the 2020 election, and New Mexico saw 
the largest voter turnout in recent State history. All these 
improvements in voter access in New Mexico were achieved while 
maintaining the integrity and the security of the electoral 
process.
    The State's leadership has not stopped working to expand 
access to the franchise, putting forth policy proposals this 
year that would continue increasing access, such as creating a 
permanent absentee voter list, supporting the rights of 
Indigenous voters by expanding the time for requesting 
alternate voting sites, and automatically restoring the voting 
rights of those convicted of a felony who are not currently 
incarcerated.
    The progress that New Mexico has made and continues to push 
for stands in stark contrast to the anti democratic laws passed 
in far too many other States, including my home State of North 
Carolina. The ability to cast a ballot free of undue burden and 
discrimination is the cornerstone of our participatory 
democracy. It should not be determined by geography, but it 
should be free and fair and equitable for every single 
American, which is why Democrats have pushed for many of these 
same policies as national standards.
    And so, with all of that said, I look forward to hearing 
from today's witnesses about how the State of New Mexico has 
improved access to the ballot for voters throughout your State 
and continuing to work with my colleagues to ensure every voter 
can receive the same access to the ballot across the country.
    With that said, I will now be delighted to recognize 
Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez of New Mexico's Third 
Congressional District for any opening statements that she 
would like to make.
    Congresswoman Leger Fernandez.
    
   [The statement of Chairman Butterfield follows:]
    
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    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Chairman Butterfield, thank you so 
much.
    Bienvenidos a New Mexico. Welcome to New Mexico. And to my 
fellow New Mexicans, I am very excited to bring our Committee's 
work to you but, more importantly, to share New Mexico's rich 
voting history and, yes, struggle to overcome our problems with 
Congress.
    As many of you know, I have spent much of my career 
expanding access to the ballot for Latinos, for Native 
Americans, and for all New Mexicans, as we strive to improve 
our democracy, because the right to vote is precious. The right 
to have easy access to the ballot is essential to a vibrant 
democracy.
    As we see in Europe, a democracy is the best answer to 
tyranny, aggression, and depravity. The threats to democracy 
abroad and at home are real. Our love for this amazing 
experiment of participatory democracy begun over two centuries 
ago, must give rise to a fierce desire and determination to 
protect it.
    Democracy is not something static. It did not flow from the 
Constitution perfect but, rather, was quite imperfect when 
first begun. But to seek a more perfect union and engage in 
that beautiful pursuit of happiness, that implies that we are 
called upon to work to perfect our democracy. That is how we 
realize the aims of justice and the blessings of liberty.
    Indeed, in the long journey towards a more perfect 
democracy, we have made sure that women, Black Americans, 
Latinos, those without land holdings in as late as the 1960s, 
because it did take us a long time to ensure that Native 
Americans had the vote. Yet there are those that fight hard 
against our work to perfect our democracy who wish to subvert 
it, limit it, and restrict it.
    In 2020, we saw historic turnout where, for example, four 
million more Latinos voted than ever before, and Native 
Americans and Latinos were decisive in Arizona, in New Mexico, 
and in many other States. Instead of celebrating this increase 
of democratic participation, instead our neighboring States and 
so many others, like Arizona and Texas, moved to restrict voter 
access. I am so proud that New Mexico did just the opposite.
    I think that there can be a beautiful symbiotic 
relationship between New Mexico, what we do here, and what we 
do at the Federal level. The Elections Clause of the 
Constitution gives Congress the right to determine Federal 
elections law, especially if a State undermines Federal 
elections. Because our Founders, and if you read the Federalist 
Papers, they point out their worry that States would seek to 
undermine the ability of Congress.
    One of the things I love in those Federalist Papers is that 
they say that Congress should be a perfect mirror portrait of 
what America is. And sometimes I think we are seeing voter 
restrictions to ensure that portrait does not reflect America.
    We can take lessons from New Mexico and incorporate them 
into Federal law. For example, when New Mexico, a while back, 
not now, but when New Mexico was denying voters in rural Native 
American communities access to early voting, which was causing 
long lines on voting day, I went to our then wonderful and 
fierce Assistant Speaker Lujan and told him, I could bring a 
Voting Rights Act claim and we could litigate it and I would 
win, the Native Americans would win, rural America--New Mexico 
would win.
    We know that is not how we do stuff here. So instead of 
litigation, we had legislation. We drafted and passed the first 
bill to require early voting access to Native Americans on 
their reservations if they chose it. That was the first but not 
the last. But this experience in New Mexico led me to include a 
requirement that no one should wait more than 30 minutes to 
vote, and that is a requirement that we now find in the Freedom 
to Vote: John Lewis Act, that we will get enacted.
    So, over the last year, to respond to the Shelby decision 
and to craft the Freedom to Vote: John Lewis Act, our 
Subcommittee has examined voting laws across the country. As 
noted, numerous States have passed laws to make it difficult 
for people of color to go to vote. Those range from closing 
polling places in Black and Latino communities, which would 
make those lines longer and much longer than the 30 minutes 
that we have proscribed in our act; it would purge voting 
rolls; and, sadly, we have seen many attacks on new citizens. 
These are insidious and targeted, very targeted to those who 
voted and made a difference in the last election. And too 
often, proponents justify them under the false guise of 
preventing election fraud, because we know that the last 
election was the most secure, had almost nil election fraud.
    So today, as a majority-minority State with large Latino 
and Native American populations, New Mexico can show us the way 
towards a more inclusive and fair democracy. We also know that 
we still have problems in New Mexico. It is not that we are 
perfect, but it is that we are going to address those issues. 
We are going to hear about some of them today. We are going to 
look to not say let's address them by restricting access; let's 
address them by targeting the problem, by naming it and working 
on it to solve it. So, I think that that is how we aspire to 
that more perfect union our Founders envisioned.
    I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about what the 
rest of America can learn from Nuevo Mexico.
    With that, I yield back.
    [The statement of Ms. Leger Fernandez follows:]
    
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    Chairman Butterfield. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ms. 
Leger Fernandez.
    Before I introduce our witnesses today, as a reminder, each 
of you will be recognized for five minutes. Your entire written 
statements will be made part of the record, and the record will 
remain open for at least five five days for additional 
materials to be submitted.
    Joining us today, we have four witnesses. Our first witness 
is--and if I pronounce some of these names incorrectly, please 
charge it to my head and not to my heart.
    I am from the South. I am from the rural part of North 
Carolina, and we talk a little differently. But let's say, Ms. 
Dawn Chavez, I cannot pronounce your first name, please help 
me.
    Ms. Dawn Chavez. Ahtza.
    Chairman Butterfield. Ahtza Dawn Chavez, of the NAVA 
Education Project; and Heather Ferguson of Common Cause New 
Mexico; Maggie T. Oliver, who is the distinguished Secretary of 
State for New Mexico; and, finally, Andrea Serrano of OLE. And 
we will talk about that for just a moment--in just a moment.
    Ms. Dawn Chavez is the Executive Director of NAVA Education 
Project at its sister organization, New Mexico Native Vote. In 
this role, she oversees organizations tasked with educating and 
creating an indigenous voting bloc in New Mexico, working with 
key organizations and governance within the State.
    Our next witness, Heather Ferguson. Heather serves as the 
Executive Director of Common Cause New Mexico. Her work focuses 
on developing policy initiatives, managing legislative 
strategy, elected official outreach, and coalition building to 
advance the mission of the organization.
    Since first joining Common Cause as its Legislative 
Director some eight years ago, she led her team's efforts to 
accomplish passing reforms, including the creation of the 
State's ethics commission, automatic and same-day voter 
registration, and updating New Mexico's public financing 
program.
    And next, we have Maggie T. Oliver. Maggie is New Mexico's 
26th Secretary of State. She has served the people of this 
great State in this role since first being elected in 2016. She 
is also the immediate past President of the National 
Association of Secretaries of State. Prior to becoming 
Secretary of State, she was first appointed to public office in 
2007, 2007, when she became County Clerk in New Mexico's 
largest county.
    And finally, Andrea. Andrea is the Executive Director of 
Organizers in the Land of Enchantment. That is what OLE stands 
for. I will say it again, Organizers in the Land of 
Enchantment. She is an Albuquerque native who has been working 
in nonprofit and social justice organization since 1999. She 
began working at OLE in 2012 as an organizer focused on 
conservation and is now Executive Director of the organization, 
leading the organization's political and electoral work.
    All right. Quite an introduction. Quite a panel. We will 
start now with our first witness, Ms. Dawn Chavez. I like to go 
left to right. On my script it is a little inverted, but I like 
to go left to right. I hope I am not catching you off guard, 
but you should go first. You are recognized for five minutes.

 STATEMENTS OF MS. AHTZA DAWN CHAVEZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NAVA 
   EDUCATION PROJECT, ALBUQUERQUE, NM; MS. HEATHER FERGUSON, 
 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COMMON CAUSE NEW MEXICO, ALBUQUERQUE, NM; 
 MS. MAGGIE TOULOUSE OLIVER, SECRETARY OF STATE, STATE OF NEW 
    MEXICO, SANTA FE, NM; AND MS. ANDREA SERRANO, EXECUTIVE 
                 DIRECTOR, OLE, ALBUQUERQUE, NM

                 STATEMENT OF AHTZA DAWN CHAVEZ

    Ms. Dawn Chavez. Thank you.
    Thank you, Chairman Butterfield and distinguished Members 
of the Subcommittee, for holding this important hearing today. 
I am honored to be here with you.
    And, Representative Leger Fernandez, thank you for all your 
efforts on this Committee.
    And it is good to see you, Representative Stansbury.
    My name is Ahtza Dawn Chavez. I am Dine from Sanostee, New 
Mexico, born for Kewa Pueblo. I am the Executive Director of 
NAVA Education Project, a 501(c)(3) organization. Since the 
inception of our organization, its work has focused on creating 
economic prosperity, protecting sacred sites and national 
landmarks, and expanding votership for Native American working 
families through grassroots community organizing.
    NAVAEP was founded in 2010, but our roots go back to the 
1990s and the fight to prevent the expansion of a highway 
through the Petroglyph National Monument on the west side of 
Albuquerque. The petroglyphs are a place of prayer and hold 
deep significance to Pueblo peoples. An intertribal and 
multicultural coalition of community organizers successfully 
prevented construction for several years. We are aware of the 
need to mobilize and actively promote civic engagement among 
Native Americans.
    This led to the registration of approximately 5,000 voters, 
a majority of which were Native American, who were able to 
defeat a street bond for the first time in over 20 years. 
Unfortunately, soon after, there was a mass purge of the voter 
rolls, and over 80 percent of those registrants were removed.
    Mayor Martin Chavez placed the bond on the ballot in 2005 
and paved the way for the destruction and displacement of a 
large portion of the petroglyph escarpment. This battle and 
subsequent desecration of one of our most significant and 
revered sacred sites was a formative experience that led us to 
become the organizations that we are today.
    Our present organizational structure includes a 501(c)(3) 
and 501(c)(4), allowing us to build up issues, perform 
education, and to work in and between election cycles to advise 
Native American communities on pertinent issues and to build 
their understanding and engagement. We are based out of 
Albuquerque and in Shiprock, New Mexico, but actively 
collaborate with communities from all 23 Tribes, nations, and 
Pueblos, as well as the urban native populations.
    For many of us, our voting experience is not something 
which has been a welcoming right. Rarely is votership something 
we have--with which we have a long positive family history of 
doing. The actual right to vote for many of Native Americans is 
relatively new, and many of us living--or excuse me, many of us 
have living family members who were born without the right.
    In New Mexico, during the 2020 primary elections, despite 
historically high turnout, native communities faced massive 
challenges, which highlighted the inequities in our election 
code. New Mexico has the third largest percentage of AIAN 
residents, and Albuquerque has the sixth largest population of 
urban AIAN residents in the Nation.
    New Mexico's native population has had to contend with 
significant obstacles that prevent them from full political 
participation. These obstacles include but are not limited to 
geographic isolation, physical and natural barriers, poor or 
nonexistent roads, technological barriers, low levels of 
educational attainment, depressed social economic conditions, 
homelessness, housing insecurity, nontraditional mailing 
addresses, lack of resources, and discrimination.
    In addition to the vast inequities that native peoples face 
year after election year, our communities were overwhelmed and 
devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. For a time, the Navajo 
Nation had the highest per capita rates of infections and 
deaths. The devastating loss of life and spread of illness 
forced Tribal leaders to make the impossible choice between 
conducting elections that would affect every aspect of our 
future and between the survival of our languages and cultures 
and traditional practices. We had to fight against an election 
code which was outdated.
    During the 2020 primary, we saw dozens of polling sites 
close, a lack of broadband access, and poor rural addressing. 
As a result, turnout dropped to 80 percent in many of our 
communities, even those with a strong history of engagement. 
Fortunately, the special session in 2020 allowed some 
provisions that made this a little bit easier.
    The fixes that were made in 2020 were very helpful in 
preventing many of the worst outcomes, and provisions were 
mostly temporary and set to expire in January. This meant that 
for New Mexico Native Vote, it was an opportunity to continue 
to push for equity ensuring legislation by codifying some of 
these crucial changes through the legislative process.
    We were able to ensure that Tribal polling locations could 
remain open, even if a Tribe utilizes their sovereign right to 
close their Tribal borders, as they did during the pandemic to 
protect their communities. We hope to continue safeguarding 
voter access by adding greater resources for conducting 
elections on Tribal land, while also creating a cleaned up and 
consolidated election code that refers specifically to Tribes, 
nations, and Pueblos.
    Many of the provisions which we stand in support of are not 
specific to Tribal communities, as the national trend to limit 
voter participation and general voter access will continue to 
disproportionately affect native people, rural voters, and 
communities of color.
    In January 2020, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and New 
Mexico State Secretary Maggie Toulouse Oliver announced an 
expansive piece of voting rights legislation that would be 
introduced. That was Senate Bill 8, commonly referred to as the 
New Mexico Voting Rights Act.
    It contained numerous provisions that garnered the support 
of a coalition of diverse communities and, together, our 
organizations mobilized communities across the State to support 
NMVRA, which would have expanded votership to many more voters 
than ever before. It would have removed many barriers for 
registration and voter access, and unfortunately, that bill did 
not pass, dying on the table at the finish line thanks to a 
partisan filibuster.
    However, we will continue to work for greater voter 
participation and access. As a State, we are moving in the 
right direction to cut red tape and empower communities who 
have historically been shut out. As an organization which is 
rooted in promoting a better, more functional society for 
native people, we have an obligation to the principles of 
democracy. Everyone deserves a vote.
    We have an obligation to do better and make sure that 
everyone has equitable access to participating in electing our 
leaders. As people----
    Chairman Butterfield. I'm going to have to ask you to wrap 
it up in about 30 seconds.
    Ms. Dawn Chavez. Sure.
    As people who are interested in uplifting the voices of our 
community, we can move forward with care and respect to the 
sanctity of the vote. We can do this while expanding the 
votership and making sure that every voter has the same access 
to all their essential rights, regardless of race, gender, 
income, or living experience.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Ms. Dawn Chavez follows:]
    
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    Chairman Butterfield. And thank you.
    Director Ferguson, you are recognized for five minutes.

                 STATEMENT OF HEATHER FERGUSON

    Ms. Ferguson. Thank you, Chairman Butterfield, Ranking 
Member Steil, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, 
for holding this important hearing today. I am honored to be 
here with Representative Leger Fernandez in her district and 
thank her for her terrific work on this Committee.
    Thank you, Representative Stansbury, for also being here 
today and for your strong record on democracy issues.
    My name is Heather Ferguson, and I am the Executive 
Director of Common Cause New Mexico. We are a State chapter of 
a national nonpartisan, pro-democracy organization with more 
than 1.5 million members and 30 State chapters, including over 
12,000 members here in New Mexico.
    For over 50 years, Common Cause has been holding power 
accountable through lobbying, litigation, and grassroots 
organizing. For years, we have worked together with those who 
put country over party to advocate to pass major democracy 
reforms that sought to correct some of the most egregious 
abuses of power. These include the Federal Election Campaign 
Act, the Presidential public financing system, and the Ethics 
in Government Act.
    Before I continue, I would like to express my sincere 
gratitude for our Secretary of State, Maggie Toulouse Oliver, 
her staff and County Clerks, and poll workers for their hard 
work to ensure the success and security of our election 
process.
    New Mexico stands out as a beacon of light in stark 
contrast to the voter suppression laws that have passed in 
legislative chambers across the country. Today I will highlight 
our current election policies, election protection program, and 
our continuing work.
    Working with our community coalition partners in 2019, New 
Mexico successfully passed same-day voter registration and 
front-end automatic voter registration. These reforms make 
voting more convenient, and they lower unnecessary barriers to 
participation.
    For over a decade, New Mexico has allowed for an early 
voting process that commences 28 days prior to Election Day, 
and subsequently, we have worked with our coalition and the 
Secretary of State's office to pass legislation to allow for 
statewide voting convenient centers. Voting should not be an 
endurance sport. We have allowed for no-excuse absentee voting 
since 1993 and preregistration for 17-year-olds since 2017.
    In our recent 30-day legislative session, two bills were 
introduced to improve our elections: the New Mexico Voting 
Rights Act and SB 144, which sought to address the intimidation 
and harassment of election workers. While neither of these 
bills passed this year, we look forward to their introduction 
next year. The details of these policies are addressed in my 
written testimony.
    For over a decade, Common Cause New Mexico has led a 
nonpartisan election protection program, with over 1,000 
trained volunteers at polling locations throughout the State. 
We focus our efforts and resources on areas that we have 
determined to be most vulnerable to increased voter 
intimidation, misinformation campaigns, and have historically 
experienced electoral suppression.
    A key factor in our program is that we work with upwards of 
25 civic organizations who collaborate to provide New Mexico 
residents with the proper information needed to register to 
vote and cast their ballot. Two of these organizations are 
represented here with me today on this panel, OLE and New 
Mexico Native Vote. We are already in the process of recruiting 
volunteers for both our primary and general elections this 
year.
    Although New Mexico has set an example nationally for 
protecting and expanding the freedom to vote, we are not immune 
from efforts by certain self-interested politicians who want to 
make it harder to vote here.
    New Mexico has seen its share of legislation attempting to 
suppress the vote of qualified voters. I have seen this to be 
especially true for our Black, Brown, and Indigenous 
communities. Common Cause, alongside our allies, continue to 
fight back against legislation that seeks to silence voters and 
harm the democratic process. We support strong national 
standards to protect our freedom to vote and commend this 
Committee for its leadership and effort.
    While we are fortunate to have so many strong pro-voter 
reforms in New Mexico, Congress has the power to close the gap 
in disparity in States where voting access is becoming more 
restricted and discriminatory and to ensure that all our fellow 
Americans have free and fair access to the ballot.
    We are appreciative of our home State Representatives, 
Leger Fernandez and Stansbury, and Senators Heinrich and Lujan, 
for their strong support of the For the People Act, the Freedom 
to Vote Act, and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement 
Act, to guarantee strong national voting standards no matter 
one's race, age, or ZIP Code.
    We are also grateful to Chairman Butterfield and for the 
work of most of this Committee for their leadership in 
crafting, voting, and speaking out publicly to pass these 
critical bills. You have been central to the House's work to 
pass these bills this Congress and in the 116th Congress.
    We hope that your colleagues in the Senate can continue its 
work to reform the filibuster and pass these overwhelmingly 
popular bills, because protecting our sacred right to vote far 
outweighs any Senate procedure. Democracy is resilient but only 
hard work can protect it.
    Thank you for the opportunity to testify this morning. I 
look forward to your questions.
    [The statement of Ms. Ferguson follows:]
    
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    Chairman Butterfield. The right to vote outweighs any 
Senate procedure. Can I repeat that.
    Ms. Ferguson. Yes, please.
    Chairman Butterfield [continuing]. When I go home?
    Ms. Ferguson. Yes, please.
    Chairman Butterfield. Thank you very much for your 
testimony.
    Ms. Oliver, you have five minutes.

              STATEMENT OF MAGGIE TOULOUSE OLIVER

    Ms. Toulouse Oliver. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and 
Members of the Subcommittee. I am Maggie Toulouse Oliver, New 
Mexico's Secretary of State. Thank you for coming to the State 
and bringing the Subcommittee here. Welcome.
    Thank you so much to my Congresswoman, Congresswoman Leger 
Fernandez, and my friend and colleague, Representative 
Stansbury.
    I would also like to take a moment to thank our County 
Clerks throughout the State and our poll workers for all the 
hard work they do to manage elections, in addition to my staff 
here in Santa Fe.
    As mentioned, I have served as an election official here in 
New Mexico for over 15 years, as a multiyear officer of the 
National Association of Secretaries of State, as well as a 
founding and ongoing member of the Election Infrastructure 
Subsector Government Coordinating Council under CISA, the Cyber 
and Infrastructure Security Agency within the Department of 
Homeland Security.
    Thank you again for organizing this hearing on ballot 
access in New Mexico and for your invitation to appear before 
you today.
    The current national discourse about voting and elections 
has been infected with a disturbing amount of misinformation 
about how elections are run and about the measures in place to 
secure the vote. Hearings like this one today are a great 
opportunity to educate the public on the complex, difficult, 
and vitally important work that election administrators engage 
in every day to keep the gears turning on our democracy.
    As New Mexico's Secretary of State since 2016, I have been 
dedicated to the dual tasks of increasing access to the ballot, 
while maintaining and expanding the high levels of election 
security and integrity we employ before, during, and between 
every election.
    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. Ballot access begins with making voting 
as easy as possible for all eligible voters, and the first step 
in that process is voter registration.
    As already mentioned, in New Mexico, we provide easy online 
voter registration, same-day voter registration, and automatic 
voter registration at the motor vehicle division, which are 
best practices in election administration that allow for more 
people to register, while also creating efficiencies for 
election administrators responsible for processing those 
registrations and keeping the records up to date.
    Although policies like same-day registration are sometimes 
presented as giving an unfair advantage to Democrats, I should 
note that more Republican voters utilized same-day registration 
in the 2020 general election than any other party. We also 
provide those 16 and 17 years of age the opportunity to 
register if they will be eighteen by the next election, as Ms. 
Ferguson mentioned, which is an innovative policy designed to 
get young people participating in democracy as early as 
possible in their lives. These different voter registration 
options were particularly useful for voters during the 
pandemic, as COVID-19 complicated many aspects of election 
administration.
    During 2020, my office worked alongside our State's county 
clerks, the Governor, and members of the legislature to provide 
voters with multiple policies--excuse me, multiple options to 
register and vote during the pandemic. Many of those pandemic 
policies have been subsequently made permanent, like those that 
were enacted to protect native voters, but many still need to 
be made permanent.
    Other election best practices we employ, like multiple 
weeks of early voting, secure monitored ballot containers, no-
excuse vote by mail, and online vote-by-mail options--excuse 
me, online vote-by-mail ballot requests, are also vital 
components of making it as easy as possible for eligible voters 
to participate in our democracy.
    New Mexico's commitment to ballot access does not come at 
the expense of election security, however, as we are nationally 
known as a leader in protecting the integrity of every vote. As 
I mentioned earlier, it is a fallacy to assume that ballot 
access must come at the expense of election security. I like to 
say we can walk and chew gum at the same time.
    Our work to strengthen our cybersecurity and election 
security in New Mexico has been an ongoing process over many 
years that has involved a strong coalition of local, State, and 
Federal partners. We protect our elections in New Mexico 
through an array of low- and high-tech solutions that have been 
proven to be formidable tools in the modern threat landscape 
election administrators face every day.
    My office has a dedicated election security team that works 
with our county clerks to test our information security 
defenses on a regular basis and provide ongoing support to 
county election administrators. Additionally, our election 
security team works with government and private partners who 
validate and test our information security defenses. Such 
assessments include reviews of documentation and process, as 
well as varying degrees of computer and network hacking. Any 
identified issues are rapidly mitigated and corrected.
    During elections, we also partner with our New Mexico Air 
National Guard as they assist us with passive threat analysis.
    My remarks are running slightly long, so let me conclude 
with a few other points.
    We also conduct a risk-limiting audit following every 
general election. This process involves the random selection of 
races and precincts throughout the State by the independent 
auditing firm that we contract with and then hand recount those 
ballots to ensure that those results match the results that 
were published on election night. If any discrepancy is found, 
additional hand counts will be required.
    I hope this overview of how we balance ballot access with 
election security in New Mexico is helpful for the Committee 
and your future work. I thank you again for giving me this 
opportunity to testify on these important matters on behalf of 
New Mexico and our State's election administrators, and I look 
forward to your questions.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    [The statement of Ms. Toulouse Oliver follows:]
    
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    Chairman Butterfield. And we thank you. And please be 
assured that your written testimony will be part of the record 
and it will be published. Thank you.
    All right. Ms. Serrano, you are recognized for five 
minutes.

                  STATEMENT OF ANDREA SERRANO

    Ms. Serrano. Good morning, Chairman Butterfield, and 
Members of the Subcommittee. And welcome home, Representative 
Leger Fernandez, and Representative Stansbury. My name is 
Andrea Serrano, and I am the Executive Director of OLE, as well 
as one of three co-chairs of the Working Families Party 
National Committee.
    OLE is a member-based, multi-issue organization focused on 
workers' rights, early education for all, raising professional 
wages for early educators, assisting permanent residents to 
gain their citizenship, and building an inclusive democracy.
    I am honored to be testifying before you today about voting 
in New Mexico, particularly about Chicano, Latino, and Hispanic 
voters.
    The importance of voting and community action is something 
that was instilled in me early on. My grandmother, Aurora 
Chavez, was born before New Mexico gained statehood and before 
some women were given the right to vote. She served as a ward 
chair in her district in the 1940s. My mom, Senaida, was an 
active member of the union, and my father, Anselmo, was a 
former State representative.
    When I turned eighteen, the first thing my parents did was 
make sure I was registered to vote. And I cast my vote--my 
first vote in the 1996 Presidential election. As a Chicana, I 
know that my vote carries the weight of my community and the 
decisions that affect us.
    People of color are 63 percent of New Mexico's population. 
We are years ahead of what the U.S. Census projects will be the 
majority population of the United States by 2045. People of 
color have a long history in this State. Indigenous tribes have 
been on this land since time immemorial and present-day Latinos 
span time. Some families have been here centuries before the 
southwest was part of the United States, others are first-
generation citizens, and others are immigrants and refugees who 
have made New Mexico their home. New Mexico is not a tri-
cultural State. Black, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities 
have also called New Mexico home for generations.
    Despite being a people of color majority State, voter 
turnout in 2018 was only 36 percent people of color and 38 
percent in 2020. This is cause for alarm given that the 
electorate does not match the population of the State and 
voters of color are underrepresented in democracy.
    A history we are all reckoning with in the U.S., including 
New Mexico, is that structural racism and economic inequality 
have limited participation in the formal system of democracy. 
The question of who has the structural power to change, 
participate in, and benefit from our economy, social norms, and 
electoral system are the key indicators of whether our 
democracy is inclusive.
    While there are many factors that contribute to low voter 
turnout among people of color, it is important that we do not 
pigeonhole voters as apathetic or uninformed. It is imperative 
that we take steps, like the John Lewis Voting Rights 
Advancement Act and the New Mexico Voting Rights Act, to 
address underrepresentation of people of color in our 
democracy.
    In 2021, the People's Power/People's Maps Coalition worked 
to ensure that race equity was at the center of New Mexico's 
redistricting process. The Coalition, convened by the Center 
for Civic Policy, was made up of several community partners 
focused on ensuring that the voices of people of color across 
the State were heard. The result was the People's Map, which 
was one of three maps recommended to the New Mexico legislature 
by the Citizens Redistricting Committee, and that map 
ultimately informed the final map adopted by the State 
legislature. This map ensures greater representation of 
communities of color in all three congressional districts and 
encourages participation in our democracy.
    Since we opened in 2009, OLE has assisted over 1,000 
permanent U.S. residents in their process of becoming U.S. 
citizens. Many of our members came to the United States and 
have raised families and been active members of their 
communities. Taking the step of citizenship is not an easy one. 
The bureaucracy can be overwhelming and confusing. OLE is a 
space where people can study for their exam, meet with an 
immigration attorney, and be celebrated when they take their 
oath.
    One of the best parts of our program is helping our members 
register to vote and sometimes even going to cast our votes 
together. As one member said, he never dreamed he would be able 
to vote since he left Mexico as a young man and never voted 
there. His vote and the votes of thousands of others must be 
protected.
    The experiences of Latinos in New Mexico are varied, and we 
are not a monolith. Our favorite saying at OLE is ``nothing 
about us without us is for us.'' Democracy means all of us. As 
New Mexico continues to be a leader in democracy reform, we 
continue to place a priority on building an inclusive democracy 
where all voices are heard, and all New Mexicans thrive.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Ms. Serrano follows:]
    
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    Chairman Butterfield. And we thank you.
    We thank all our witnesses for your testimony.
    It is now time for Member questions. This is always the 
exciting part of any field hearing. And under the protocol, 
usually the chair goes first, but I am going to today go last. 
I am going to recognize you first, Ms. Leger Fernandez for five 
minutes.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. I am going to borrow your----
    Chairman Butterfield. You think mine is working better than 
yours?
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. I think yours is working better.
    Can everybody hear me? Oh, we have been told by our 
wonderful election staff. So thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Butterfield. I had planned to take a break between 
the questions and--the testimony and the questions, because I 
didn't realize we had two interpreters and two reporters. When 
I was a judge years ago, we only had one, and I would have to 
take a break from time to time to give them some relief, but we 
are well staffed today, and so take your time. So, let's 
proceed with questions.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Okay. We will proceed with questions.
    Chairman Butterfield. Let's restart the clock, please. Yes. 
Thank you.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. So----
    Chairman Butterfield. You know, it reminds me when we went 
to----
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. We are going to have to restart the 
clock again, but yes.
    Chairman Butterfield. I went with former President Obama to 
Nelson Mandela's funeral in South Africa, and they had an 
interpreter there, and little did we know that the interpreter 
was not certified and did not know what he was doing. I have 
been assured today that these interpreters are well qualified.
    Reset the clock and let's go. All right.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Well, on that note, I think maybe I 
will start the clock talking about the diversity of our State 
and indeed in my district. My district is twenty percent Native 
American. We did see that we had higher participation in the 
general election, not by as much as we had hoped, but we 
increased Native American participation by three percentage 
points, which is great, right, and it means we have a whole lot 
more work to do.
    But, Ms. Chavez, so the Native American Voting Rights Act, 
the Federal Native American Voting Rights Act reincorporated 
much of that into the John Lewis Freedom to Vote Act, and it 
would require that Native Americans have the right to designate 
a Tribal building for their residential address.
    In your written testimony, you talked about the importance 
and how difficult it is in places that don't have regular 
residential addresses than others. Could you explain why having 
something like that is important, why we can't rely on a 
physical address when you are in--on a Pueblo or on a 
reservation?
    Ms. Dawn Chavez. Sure. Thank you for the question. Many of 
our communities lack post offices on the Navajo Nation, for 
example, and some of our Pueblo communities who have post 
offices still are miles away from where people reside.
    So having a Tribal or administrative building that is 
allowed to be the address for a lot of these folks who are 
wanting to vote by ballot is important because it allows those 
ballots to go to that central location, and then the Tribes 
themselves can dictate how they can pick those up or how those 
can be managed.
    Without that, if someone wanted to vote by absentee ballot 
without a deliverable address, that is not an option. So, you 
have many voters who work off hours or are not able to go into 
a polling location on Election Day, so that limits their access 
to be able to vote.
    In addition to that, especially on the Navajo Nation, you 
have Navajo Nation elections where their polling locations are 
in one area, and then you have State or Federal elections where 
their polling locations are in another area. So even if you 
wanted to vote in both elections, a lot of times that means you 
are spending half of the day traveling to get to these polling 
locations. So being able to vote absentee in one of them really 
increases the amount of votership that we have.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you very much. I think what you 
have just pointed out is that our job is to make it easier for 
voters to vote, whether it is in a Tribal election or a Federal 
election. Tribes will do what they want, but our job, our job 
is to make sure there is ballot access and ballot security.
    I have lots of questions for the Secretary of State, but I 
wanted to go to Ms. Serrano. And in other States--in fact, we 
just recently had a hearing, as I pointed out, where, in Texas, 
they were targeting new citizens for purging in the--for 
purging the voter rolls. And you just described the importance 
in what the work you do to ensure that new citizens can vote 
and have the right to vote.
    Can you describe whether targeting new citizens would have 
a chilling effect and why?
    Ms. Serrano. It absolutely would have a chilling effect. 
And thank you, Representative, for that question. Our 
experience has been that many people who become new citizens 
are part of mixed-status families. And so, when we are talking 
about one person who has become a citizen, it is likely that 
there are still family members who aren't even permanent 
residents yet, or some people may be citizens and others may 
not be.
    And so, to target new citizens and purge them from the 
voter rolls, what it does is it creates this atmosphere of fear 
and it creates this sort of idea that somehow you have done 
something wrong, you have done something wrong by simply being 
registered to vote.
    And so, when we talk about protecting the vote, you know, 
it is important--and I think that Secretary Toulouse Oliver 
spoke so wonderfully about the way that our voting is secure, 
that, you know--and that is a fact. Voting is secure in the 
United States, and, in New Mexico, we take great, great steps 
to make sure that voting is secure.
    But when we talk--when we start to create this fear, 
especially among new citizens, many of whom are people of 
color, we start to create this narrative, and it is dangerous. 
It is dangerous for people, because when you start to target 
people and it is this, you know, official target from the State 
or from the government, then it pushes people into the margins 
and it prevents people from participating in democracy, and 
that is why that protection matters.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you. And I am almost out of 
time. I will leave my questions for the next two witnesses on 
the second round.
    Chairman Butterfield. No, you are the host. You can have an 
extra minute. You are the host, yes.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Okay. Well, I did want to ask Ms. 
Ferguson that election officials are experiencing increased 
harassment and we are seeing a lot of disinformation. In fact, 
we had a hearing in Florida about the disinformation 
specifically targeted to Spanish speakers and how that 
disinformation in Florida is then exported, sort of cleaned up 
like there is a laundering effect on disinformation, then 
imported into New Mexico.
    What do you think are the most effective ways to prevent 
disinformation's influence?
    Ms. Ferguson. I think that one of the--Mr. Chairman and 
Representative Leger Fernandez, I think that one of the most 
important ways that we can do that is through misinformation 
monitoring systems. I know that our national office Common 
Cause will be doing a very robust program during the national 
elections coming up, as well as some local organizations are 
also doing misinformation, I would call them, mining campaigns.
    So, these are going to be individuals who are going to be 
monitoring social media accounts looking for misleading 
information about candidates, about voting locations. That is 
one of the issues that has shown up prevalently in previous 
elections. And our Secretary of State's office has been 
lightning fast at assuring that those are immediately 
addressed.
    I remember a couple years ago when we had some mass texts 
going out that was--that were giving out incorrect polling 
locations to the residents of the city of Albuquerque, that 
immediately she engaged the Department of Homeland Security and 
at the FBI to investigate where those were coming from and to 
put a stop to those. These were ones that had been supposedly 
promulgated or sent out to voters from our, at the time, city 
clerk. So, it is campaigns like that that I think we need to 
identify.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you very much. And I will yield 
back.
    Chairman Butterfield. The gentlelady yields back.
    All right. Ms. Stansbury, take it away. Now, were you in 
the House or Senate when you were in the State legislature?
    Ms. Stansbury. I was, in fact, in this very body, in this 
very Committee that we are sitting in today.
    Chairman Butterfield. In this room?
    Ms. Stansbury. Yes.
    Chairman Butterfield. So, you are right at home?
    Ms. Stansbury. I am. It is great to be back.
    Chairman Butterfield. So you are also a host.
    Ms. Stansbury. Yes.
    Chairman Butterfield. Sort of.
    Ms. Stansbury. Sort of. I am here at the pleasure of the 
Committee, but it is an honor to be here, so thank you for 
letting me be here today.
    Chairman Butterfield. Absolutely. You are recognized for 
five minutes.
    Ms. Stansbury. All right. Well, good morning, everyone.
    And thank you once again, Chairman Butterfield and to 
Representative Leger Fernandez, for your leadership and for 
convening this important hearing on such an important topic 
which is, of course, access to the ballot box and voting rights 
here in New Mexico.
    And it is such a joy and an honor to be with all of you 
this morning here in my old stomping grounds, as I just said, 
with so many friends. I just want to take a moment of personal 
privilege and say how awesome is it that we are here with this 
incredible panel of women leaders who are leading voting rights 
in the State of New Mexico. We are indeed blessed here in this 
State to have such incredible leadership.
    As legislatures across the country have been working to 
undermine voting rights, I am proud to be in my home State 
where we have been working to increase access and strengthen 
voting rights, led by our amazing Secretary of State, our 
Governor, who is upstairs, Tribal leaders, local leaders, and 
organizations across New Mexico, many of whom are here today.
    I am proud to be from a State that understands that voting 
rights are the foundation of our democracy and must be 
protected. And I am proud to have been a member of this 
legislature as we pass some of the most important voting rights 
legislation being discussed here today, including bills to 
expand voter registration, access to the ballot, and voting 
rights across our communities.
    While we are not without our own challenges, as we are 
discussing here today, New Mexico is indeed at the forefront of 
voting rights across the country. I want to thank the Committee 
for beginning your field hearing work here in our home State 
and highlighting our State as we are seeing attacks on voting 
rights across the U.S.
    In fact, in the last year alone, more than 400 bills have 
been introduced in 49 States across the United States 
restricting voting access. That includes barriers to mail-in 
voting, early voting, and voter ID laws, with dozens of these 
laws having been enacted in 2021 alone, not to mention the 
gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the courts over the last 
several years.
    Considering these and other attacks on our core democratic 
institutions, it is more important than ever that we act at the 
Federal level to protect voting rights. And that is why I am so 
proud to be a cosponsor of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights 
Advancement Act, and why we are still fighting to get this 
bill, along with the Freedom to Vote Act and the For the People 
Act, across the finish line in the Senate.
    Taken together, these three bills would strengthen the 
Voting Rights Act, modernize, and overhaul our election system 
to actually make it work for our communities, and most 
importantly, help get big money out of politics. However, as we 
saw in January of this last year, the Senate was unable to pass 
these bills, despite overriding support from the American 
people, due to outdated and undemocratic customs in the Senate 
that are being used to block critical legislation, which is why 
I too support and believe that we must abolish the filibuster.
    Despite these challenges at the Federal level, New Mexico 
has been at the forefront of promoting fair and open elections. 
In 2019 and 2020, we passed major election reform bills 
allowing automatic and same-day registration, expanded early 
voting and mail-in voting, which was especially important for 
our State at the height of the pandemic.
    And this last year, we passed the Native American Polling 
Place Protection Act, to ensure that our Tribes and our Pueblos 
can provide access to the ballot box on Tribal lands.
    While serving in the State house here in this Capitol, I 
was proud to support and vote in favor of these bills. However, 
as we are hearing here this morning, our work is not over. In 
the last election cycle, we have heard reports of local 
officials refusing to provide access to the ballot box on 
Tribal lands, even at the request of our Tribal governments; 
limited polling places in rural areas, forcing our rural 
communities to drive long distances to vote; and even instances 
of voter intimidation in communities with high numbers of new 
voters.
    We have also continued to see lower participation across 
low-income and communities of color across the State, and our 
State has also not been immune to antidemocratic efforts to 
undermine the election at the national level, including several 
individuals from our State who are currently under Federal 
investigation for acting as fake electors in the 2020 
Presidential election and misinformation about that election 
that still is circulating within our State.
    And this, Mr. Chairman, is exactly why we must keep working 
to protect and expand voting rights, because our democracy and 
the ability of every New Mexican and every American, regardless 
of where you come from and where you live, to have your voice 
heard depends on it.
    And, with that, Mr. Chairman, I am on limited time, so I 
will hold my questions to the second round.
    Chairman Butterfield. Thank you. The gentlelady yields back 
and thank you very much for your questions.
    Thank you for mentioning the Voting Rights Act and the John 
R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. That is something that 
is very near and dear to this Subcommittee. While the bill was 
written by the Judiciary Committee, it was this Committee that 
had great input and great influence on the final product.
    The Voting Rights Act in 1965 was a very significant piece 
of legislation. It did several things. First of all, it 
outlawed the literacy test that was in effect in many of the 
Southern States. That was a big deal. New Mexico might not have 
a full appreciation for what that meant to the south, but it 
was very significant. It enabled persons who were not well 
educated to become registered voters, and it stopped elections 
officials from administering any type of prequalification for 
them to become voters.
    But it did more than that. It also created a Section 2, 
which gave any minority community in the United States, not 
just in the southern States, but any minority community in the 
whole country whose vote was being diluted or voters were being 
disenfranchised because of election laws, it gave them the 
right to bring a lawsuit in Federal court to challenge those 
election procedures.
    Section 2 has been very effective down through the years, 
and those of you who have been involved in litigation, you know 
what I mean. We would not have made the progress that we have 
made in this country in advancing minority voting rights had it 
not been for Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
    The third provision of the VRA was what we call Section 5. 
Some refer to it as a preclearance section. It singled out 
certain States and parts of States that had a history, a long 
history of voter discrimination. It ended up being most of the 
States in the Deep South.
    It included forty counties in my State of North Carolina, 
but it subjected these jurisdictions to preclearance, which 
means that before any election law, practice, or procedure 
would be enforced, it had to be approved or precleared by the 
Department of Justice. And because of that, many southern 
States were placed in a predicament of either to ignore Section 
5 or comply with Section 5.
    Many States, believe it or not, ignored Section 5 to that 
peril, because after passage of several years, they were called 
to account for their failure to get election laws--new election 
laws precleared. But Section 5 has been very meaningful and has 
meant a lot to the political progress the minority groups have 
made across the country.
    Chairman Butterfield. Well, in 2013, we were witness to a 
grand surprise. In Shelby County v. Holder, June 25 of 2013, I 
think it was, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that was 
very profound and very interesting, I might say. It found that 
Section 5 is constitutional. A lot of people don't realize 
that, that there is some belief that Section 5 was struck down. 
Section 5 was not struck down. It is now and continues to be 
the law of the land.
    What was struck down was Section 4, which is the formula 
that decides which States, which counties, which cities are 
included in Section 5. And so, the formula has been struck down 
as being out of date, because the formula that was being used 
was a 1964 formula, and the courts said that Congress needs to 
update the formula. And so, this Committee has been very much 
involved in creating a factual basis, a Congressional Record 
that would support updating the formula for Section 5. And we 
completed that task.
    We went all over the country in the last Congress under the 
leadership of then-Congresswoman Marcia Fudge. We went to the 
reservations----
    Was it North or South Dakota?
    North Dakota. We held hearings there, we went to North 
Carolina, we went to other States across the country and held 
vast amounts of field hearings. We collected the evidence, and 
we have thousands, thousands of pages of testimony and evidence 
that were included in the Congressional Record, which was the 
basis for the passing of the John R. Louis Voting Rights 
Advancement Act. And so, we have now passed it in the House, 
and it is awaiting action in the Senate. And while we have 
encountered several obstacles, we are hoping that those 
obstacles will be dissolved in the next few weeks, and we can 
get this legislation passed and enacted into law.
    So rather than asking questions, I wanted to make this 
speech, because a lot of people don't connect the dots. They 
know some things, but they don't really put the four corners of 
the problem together in one neat package, and that's where we 
are.
    Thank you. And I will yield back.
    All right. That completes the first round of questions.
    Do you all have an appetite for a second round?
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Yes, I do. Do our witnesses?
    Chairman Butterfield. All right.
    Do we have any Republican colleagues that are connected 
with us?
    They are certainly invited.
    Okay. Going once, going twice. No response from any other 
colleagues that might be virtual.
    All right. Second round of questioning. Ms. Leger Fernandez 
you are recognized for five minutes.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you very much, Chairman 
Butterfield.
    And, yes, the Section 2 has been well used in New Mexico 
and litigated. I really believe, as you do, that we have no 
choice but to continue to work and put all of our efforts into 
ensuring that the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Act, 
which are now one as they should be, which passed the Senate 
last time with not a single negative Republican vote, 98 to 0, 
that we need to make sure that we get those fifty Republicans 
or at least get--do away with the filibuster. We must work on 
that.
    I wanted to turn, right now, to our wonderful Secretary of 
State, who has done so much, who has taught us that we can walk 
and chew gum, we can vote and make sure that voting is safe. We 
are working hard on the passage of those two laws that we have 
talked about. What else can we do in Congress to provide the 
assistance to you? You have the ears and eyes of the 
Subcommittee on Elections of the House Administration 
Committee, describe to us what you need here from the Federal 
Government.
    Ms. Toulouse Oliver. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and 
Representative Leger Fernandez. I think the biggest challenge 
that we face in the States, in addition to, you know, my full 
belief that we need to pass this particular piece of 
legislation and particularly to address the lack of a formula, 
you know, it is my personal belief that a lot of the 
restrictive laws that we have seen passed, for example, just to 
the east and west of New Mexico in our neighboring States, 
would not have mustered past preclearance had that Section 4 
formula been reestablished by now. I appreciate your efforts in 
working toward that goal, because we need it. We are creating a 
more inequal election process throughout the country without 
it.
    But to your question, Mr. Chairman and Representative, we 
need ongoing funding that we can rely upon in the States. So, 
as you know, Mr. Chairman and Representative, elections are a 
critical national infrastructure. We are not just talking about 
the cybersecurity aspect of elections, although that is 
incredibly critical. We are talking about the ability for 
voters to safely go to the polls for our poll workers, our 
county clerks to safely conduct their duties, and to make sure 
that we are providing that physical access to the polling 
place. One of the best ways we can do that--we are certainly 
grateful for the grants that we have received from Congress, 
particularly since I have been in office. We have put those to 
very good use here in the State of New Mexico and are 
continuing to take advantage of that funding that is coming to 
us through HAVA through the EAC. If we knew that we could rely 
on an even smaller amount of funding but on an annual basis to 
help support these critical infrastructure programs in our 
State, that would go a tremendously long way. Thank you.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you.
    Ms. Ferguson, can you describe--because you are taking a 
statewide look, and we do know that there is both harassment of 
voters and, sadly, harassment of poll workers when all--they 
should have the most boring job there is, right? All you are 
doing is counting the ballots, and they do it and so many of 
them who do it are on a volunteer basis. But, Ms. Ferguson, are 
there parts of the State and is there work that can be done 
that are subject to kind of maybe worse practices that we need 
to target or think about? Are things going well across the 
State or are there some issues that we need to be aware of?
    Ms. Ferguson. Mr. Chairman and Representative Leger 
Fernandez, I wish that I could say that there were certain 
areas of the State that were immune. Certainly in 2020, we did 
not experience that. We saw voter intimidation and harassment 
tactics happening down in Las Cruces in Dona Ana County. We saw 
a number of those happening in the southeastern corners of our 
State. We saw them right here in Albuquerque, and we also saw 
them in Santa Fe, all the way up through Farmington. There was 
no place that was immune from that.
    I think we can anticipate, based on the rhetoric and the 
divisiveness that is currently occurring, especially here in 
our State with certain individuals who are trying to rally 
individuals to sow not only disinformation but disbelief and 
trust in our election systems, that we need greater 
protections, specific criminal legislation that will address it 
to be a crime to intimidate or to harass our poll workers who 
are there just trying to count ballots, as you said. And then 
specifically also to try to address these intimidation tactics, 
which included caravans of vehicles that were blocking our 
polling locations throughout the city.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you, Ms. Ferguson. We do have 
Federal legislation to address that, and we will continue to 
work on it. But I think it is important to place into testimony 
the fact that it still exists.
    I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Butterfield. The gentlelady yields back.
    Ms. Stansbury, you are recognized for five minutes.
    Ms. Stansbury. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And one thing I would love to do, since we are in New 
Mexico and part of the purpose of these field hearings is to 
hear from folks who are out in the field, is to direct a 
question to Ms. Chavez. In this last election and in previous 
elections, we have seen instances where county officials, 
county election officials have limited access to the ballot box 
in our Tribal communities. And this was particularly 
problematic during the pandemic because we have communities, 
for example, in the Navajo Nation where people usually vote at 
their chapter houses. They travel, as you said during your 
testimony, long distances, but there were curfews, people were 
trying to stay home to stay safe, and there were limitations 
put on access to the ballot box. Chapter house voting stations 
were not opened. We had CARES Act money to open those stations, 
but we had local officials who refused to actually take the 
money that was available at the request of, in this instance, 
the Navajo Nation to make those voting stations open.
    And so that, Mr. Chairman, is why we had to pass this bill 
this last session and why that was so important for ensuring 
that our Tribal nations could control access to the ballot box. 
I think, Mr. Chairman, as you were pointing out, we are seeing 
suppression of Native votes across the country.
    And so, Ms. Chavez, I wonder if you could take a few 
moments to share about New Mexico's experience and what you 
feel in terms of both the challenges and successes can be 
scaled up at the Federal level to make sure that we are 
protecting the Native vote.
    Ms. Dawn Chavez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Representative 
Leger Fernandez. I think there are a bunch of provisions 
nationally in the NVRA Act that make a lot of sense for Tribes. 
When we had to deal with the pandemic and the closure, it 
really was because Tribal communities were closing their 
borders to protect their elders and their community members, 
which because of the code, meant that if that polling location 
wasn't accessible to every voter, they had to literally choose 
between voting and/or closing that location. So, we were able 
to rectify that with that piece of legislation.
    However, there are so many issues with not enough polling 
workers in a lot of these locations. There are issues with 
basic access for our disabled voters, right? Even something 
simple by allowing a polling worker to cast that--or take that 
ballot outside of the actual building makes a big difference 
for a lot of our elderly voters. Anytime we reduce the hours 
and accessibility for early voting days, that means that a lot 
of our elders who need translation services or help getting 
into actual polling locations are limited. When we don't have 
the funding to be able to provide for translation or for 
allowing some of our people who work within our Tribes to be 
able to help our voters, then we limit their access.
    So, there are several small provisions that we can do at 
the national level. As Ms. Fernandez had mentioned, you know, 
having Tribal buildings be allowed to be the address for any 
sort of registered votership are very crucial. Anytime we are 
allowed to use our own Tribal identifications to be able to 
vote, that means that we increase the votership. There are a 
number of small provisions, small changes that can be made on 
the national level that we did try to incorporate in the New 
Mexico VRA, but those provisions were literally the provisions 
that we had been talking about on the national level with a 
number of organizations that worked for Native American 
votership. Thank you.
    Ms. Stansbury. Thank you, Ms. Chavez.
    And, Mr. Chairman, certainly as this Committee moves 
forward and efforts in the Senate move forward to get voting 
rights legislation passed, I think it is crucial that we take 
these examples and really incorporate them into the voting 
rights laws that we are working at the Federal level specific 
to our Tribal communities, because while the Voting Rights Act 
has provisions and it protects communities that have 
historically been discriminated against, there are 
particularities in Tribal communities that are really important 
because of the sovereign status of our Tribal nations. And so, 
I really wanted to take a moment to highlight that.
    Because I am running low on time, I would like to just ask 
one question to Ms. Serrano. I really appreciated in your 
testimony the ways in which you lifted and talked about the 
importance of making voting more accessible and increasing 
turnout amongst our communities of color and our low-income 
communities. I wonder if you could just share some thoughts 
about what we can do at the Federal level in partnership with 
our local organizations and governments to really help make 
that happen more effectively.
    Ms. Serrano. I think a lot of people, the traditional hours 
are 7:00 to 7:00, which are pretty expansive, but I think that 
people are still struggling to get to the polls. I think bigger 
than that it is the misinformation, it is pressure from 
employers, it is family pressure, but it is also--you know, we 
have folks who are working more than one job. And so, if I knew 
that one thing, that would have been the focal point of what I 
talked about today.
    But what I do think is at the heart here is that we have to 
really combat, one, the misinformation, but two, you know, we 
have to make voting as accessible as possible. And New Mexico 
has taken such great strides toward that over the last few 
years. But, you know, having drop boxes in lots more accessible 
places I think is one of those steps.
    Quite honestly, when we are talking about placing an 
importance on reaching out to communities of color, I think 
that, you know, there is lots of voter information that is out 
there, but where are the places and what is the investment that 
we need to make into findings the places and the trusted 
messengers. That is the other piece of it, is who are the 
trusted messengers in our communities who are bringing us that 
information, and how are we making it even more accessible for 
folks to vote? Whether it is Sunday voting, whether it is--you 
know, there are lots of ideas that are out there around how do 
we make voting more accessible, even in a State that is as 
accessible as New Mexico.
    But what I really do think it comes down to is how are we 
getting information, correct information to our communities in 
many different languages? That--the misinformation that, you 
know, you spoke about that we saw really take hold in Florida, 
we have seen it taking hold among other Latinos across the 
country, including in New Mexico. Who are those trusted 
messengers who are going to disrupt that misinformation? That 
misinformation is done purposely, and it is done specifically 
to keep people of color from trusting that their vote will 
matter when their votes absolutely do count and absolutely do 
matter.
    Ms. Stansbury. Thank you, Ms. Serrano.
    And I yield back.
    Chairman Butterfield. Thank you. The gentlelady yields 
back.
    All right. The chair now recognizes himself for five 
minutes.
    I got carried away a few minutes ago in talking about 
Section 5, and then I ran out of time, but let me conclude by--
I got carried away a few moments ago by talking about Section 
5. I didn't have time to talk about Section 2. Section 2 is 
also under attack.
    There is a case in the State of Texas that is working its 
way to the U.S. Supreme Court that challenges Section 2, that 
is the right to litigate. Their claim is that Section 2 is 
unconstitutional, plain, and simple. They also plead, in the 
alternative, that if Section 2 is constitutional, that it was 
not intended to apply to redistricting cases. They also 
contend, alternatively, that Section 2, to be successful, there 
must be proof of intentional discrimination, not discriminatory 
result but intentional discrimination or at the very least bad 
faith on the part of the legislative making body.
    And so that case is working it is way to the Supreme Court. 
I don't know what the outcome will be, but we are bracing 
ourselves for that case, to say the least. It is most 
unfortunate.
    Ms. Serrano, thank you for mentioning disinformation, 
because I can get on my soapbox about that as well. I said in 
Florida when we were down there a few weeks ago, I guess it 
was, that there are three types of bad information. There is 
disinformation, misinformation, and what I coin malinformation.
    Misinformation is true information, but it is not intended 
to hurt a candidate or a political cause. It is just misguided. 
But then there is misinformation, or should I say 
disinformation, that is false information that is intentional. 
It is intended to suppress the vote and to cause confusion in 
an election. And then there is malinformation that is 
malicious. It is just off the chart. It is just a lie that is 
spread through social media and otherwise. And so, thank you 
for bringing that up.
    Ms. Ferguson, let me start with you. In your testimony, you 
discuss Common Cause's robust election protection program. As 
you look ahead to this year's elections, what are you most 
concerned about from a voter and election protection 
standpoint? And what can we do as Congress to address the 
situation?
    Ms. Ferguson. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the question. We 
do usually run a program where we have close to 1,000 
volunteers out in the field. I think that that is one of the 
most critical components of our campaign, is working with all 
25 civic engagement organizations that we work with so that we 
have people on the ground, so that when we get called in to our 
national 1-866-OUR-VOTE hotline that we run with the national 
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, that we have people on the 
ground that can verify this information. That was what lead us 
to what resulted in subsequent arrests of several individuals 
at one of our polling locations here.
    So, I think that one of the things we are most concerned 
about right now is going to be the voter intimidation, the 
malinformation, and the disinformation that you specified to, I 
think is something that we have seen prevalently occurring on 
our social media sites and being propagated by some 
individuals. I think that with that, the best help that we can 
have from Congress is to ensure that we have full access to all 
our voting locations.
    There were several people who would come up against, you 
know, lines of vehicles and felt genuinely intimidated, and 
understandably so, to even go near their polling location in 
2020.
    Chairman Butterfield. An example of malinformation in my 
world, if someone posts a statement: Breaking news, polling 
places will be open for two days, 7:00 to 7:00 on Tuesday, 7:00 
to 7:00 on Wednesday. Make sure you vote by 7 p.m. On 
Wednesday, that is intended to deceive. And especially when 
that is communicated to targeted groups, minority groups. That 
is happening across the country, and it is going to get worse 
unless we can do something about it at the Federal level.
    Secretary Oliver, you mentioned in your testimony that New 
Mexico has not been immune to the increasing threats election 
officials have faced across the country. Elections officials, 
as you certainly know, are vital to the functioning of our 
elections. What more can we do to help better protect officials 
in your State?
    Ms. Toulouse Oliver. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the 
question. I think it is important for, first Congress to help 
us combat the mis-, dis-, and malinformation. A lot of the 
threats that are arising towards myself and my colleagues, not 
just at the Secretary of State level, but at all levels of 
election administration are coming directly from the lies that 
are being propagated about how our elections are run and about 
the accuracy and integrity of the 2020 election.
    I am very pleased that the Department of Justice and FBI 
have convened their task force that provides us with a hotline 
and an outlet to report threats. They are being very 
responsive. I have to say my own personal experience dealing 
with threats and working together with the FBI and Federal law 
enforcement has been fantastic.
    Anything you can do to help support those efforts is 
incredible. But I think most important is that we must 
collectively figure out how to make sure that these lies are 
not tolerated, and they are not--they do not continue to 
propagate, because that is the most dangerous piece of what we 
are dealing with here.
    Thank you.
    Chairman Butterfield. Let me ask you this in conclusion. 
Are you charged with the responsibility of certifying the 
Presidential election?
    Ms. Toulouse Oliver. Yes.
    Chairman Butterfield. After the popular vote? That is your 
responsibility?
    Ms. Toulouse Oliver. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Butterfield. Is there any legislation pending in 
this State that would take away that authority from the 
Secretary of State?
    Ms. Toulouse Oliver. No, Mr. Chairman. And it is not just 
my role. We have a statewide Board of Canvass that consists of 
myself, the Governor, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court. There has not been any legislation introduced. I haven't 
heard anything about that, and thank goodness, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Butterfield. And do you make that certification 
based on any political considerations or do you strictly follow 
the law?
    Ms. Toulouse Oliver. Absolutely not, Mr. Chairman. We 
strictly follow the law here.
    Chairman Butterfield. Thank you very much.
    Ms. Toulouse Oliver. Thank you.
    Chairman Butterfield. Well, I want to again thank the 
witnesses for your valuable testimony today and thank the 
Members for your questions. Members may have additional 
questions for these witnesses. And if so, we will ask you to 
respond, the witnesses to respond to those in writing.
    The hearing record will be held open for these responses--
--
    [Disturbance in hearing room.]
    Chairman Butterfield. If you would suspend for just a 
moment.
    If you would suspend for just a moment. I have the 
authority to arrest you and detain you. Would you hold for just 
a moment?
    Would you hold for just a moment?
    Thank you. Thank the gentlelady.
    Let me try that one again. That doesn't happen too often, 
but when it happens, you must be patient with the citizens when 
they do this. I have a lot of power when a hearing is 
disrupted, but I am not going to exercise that power today.
    Thank you to the witnesses, thank you to our colleagues. 
Members may have additional questions for the witnesses. And if 
so, we will ask you to respond to those in writing. The hearing 
record will be held open for those responses.
    Again, thank you to our host here at the State Capitol. 
Thank you to my colleagues and to the good people of New 
Mexico.
    Without objection, the Subcommittee on Elections will stand 
adjourned. Thank you.
    [Whereupon, at 1:23 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
    
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