[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
VOTING IN AMERICA: ACCESS TO THE BALLOT IN NEW MEXICO
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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
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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
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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
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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:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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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