New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver testified at a congressional committee hearing on election confidence Wednesday. Amid and their results across the county in recent years, Toulouse Oliver touted the state鈥檚 efforts to turn the tide in the lead-up to November.
Toulouse Oliver told members of the that her work used to be 鈥渁 relatively quiet affair.鈥�
鈥淲e used to say, 鈥業f we鈥檙e in the news, we鈥檙e not doing a good job,鈥欌�� She said. 鈥淣ow, election administration has a much higher profile among the American public.鈥�
She said this newfound attention can inspire more participation in elections, but there is also a darker side to what it has done to the public鈥檚 outlook.
鈥淏ecause of what has now been years of false election claims and ideological attempts to discredit our voting systems and processes, much of the heightened awareness of elections is now colored by conspiracies, misinformation and, frankly, outright lies,鈥� she said.
This has led to harassment and threats to election workers, including herself, Toulouse Oliver told lawmakers, and driven the plummeting confidence among voters.
鈥淭his is a vicious cycle that must be mitigated for the good of our country,鈥� she said.
Toulouse Oliver discussed why New Mexico leads the nation in election administration, according to
鈥淪ome of the reasons for our ranking include our transparency around voting and elections, our wide variety of voter access tools, and the extensive security measures we have in place to ensure both accuracy and fairness,鈥� she said. 鈥淧ost-election audits, air-gapped tabulators, 100% paper ballots, year-round voter list maintenance, and a variety of other security measures.鈥�
She touted her office鈥檚 strategies to combat false information, like its . And its work to build trust through the media campaign, where local administrators educate voters about election integrity.
Toulouse Oliver concluded her testimony by lobbying the committee for consistent federal election funding to fight misinformation and disinformation coming from abroad.
