Congressional representatives, local officials and democracy advocates met at the Roundhouse today for a hearing on voter access that was livestreamed on YouTube and is available to watch.
The panel presentation and questions, titled ‘Voting in America: Access to the Ballot in New Mexico’ was part of a series of similar meetings conducted nationwide by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Elections Subcommittee, which has also released a report about voter access in the U.S.
At Monday’s hearing, several speakers praised New Mexico for passing legislation in recent years that has made voter registration faster and easier, and for allowing people to vote absentee without giving a reason for doing so.
But some pointed out that there are still problems with access. For example Ahtza Dawn Chavez of the NAVA Education Project said that registration and voting is often still challenging in Native American communities where people may live far away from polling places, or have limited access to the internet.
Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver also warned that the, “current national discourse about voting and elections has been infected with a disturbing amount of misinformation.”
Speaking to KUNM after the event, Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez said that a recent effort to audit the 2020 presidential election in Otero County was designed to undermine faith in democracy
“We have to recognize that all of the attacks on our democracy we have to fight here in New Mexico as well,” she said, adding that the incident underlined the need for new federal laws designed to make voting easier and prevent discrimination.
“What we need to do on the federal level is pass the Freedom to Vote Act, pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act,” she said.
According to the Brennan Center think tank, at least 19 states have passed laws restricting voters’ rights since 2020
