{"id":647904,"date":"2018-11-26T07:00:21","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T14:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=647904"},"modified":"2018-11-26T14:10:08","modified_gmt":"2018-11-26T21:10:08","slug":"secretary-of-state-talks-turnout-same-day-voter-registration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/11\/secretary-of-state-talks-turnout-same-day-voter-registration\/","title":{"rendered":"Secretary of state talks turnout, same-day voter registration"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_647922\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-647922\" src=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Toulouse-Oliver-Maggie-771x531.jpg\" alt=\"Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver\" width=\"771\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Toulouse-Oliver-Maggie-771x531.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Toulouse-Oliver-Maggie-336x231.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Toulouse-Oliver-Maggie-768x529.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Toulouse-Oliver-Maggie-1170x805.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Toulouse-Oliver-Maggie.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Matthew Reichbach \/ New Mexico Political Report<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The staff at the Secretary of State\u2019s office is still working on elections as the final statewide canvass approaches this week, but also looking forward to the upcoming legislative session.<\/p>\n<p>Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver spoke to reporters last week about the elections and legislation she will back in next year\u2019s session when lawmakers meet.<\/p>\n<p>Toulouse Oliver said she was \u201cvery, very, very pleased with the overall turnout,\u201d which was\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpoliticalreport.com\/2018\/11\/12\/turnout-in-nm-jumped-up-from-past-midterms-especially-in-dem-leaning-counties\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the highest midterm turnout in decades in New Mexico<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>She questioned if the increased midterm turnout was due to the current political climate or efforts by the government and others to facilitate voting &#8212; or a combination of both.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpoliticalreport.com\/2018\/11\/21\/secretary-of-state-talks-turnout-support-for-same-day-voter-registration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico Political Report<\/a>,\u00a0a nonprofit news organization\u00a0focused on promoting a greater public understanding of politics and policy in New Mexico.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWe had a very active, engaged electorate this year in New Mexico this cycle, and that\u2019s a positive, that\u2019s a plus,\u201d she said. \u201cI think moving forward the goal is to sustain that level of participation in a midterm election and to grow it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She also addressed vote-counting in Do\u00f1a Ana County: on election night, absentee ballots weren\u2019t fully counted and reported until the night after polls closed.<\/p>\n<p>Republican congressional candidate Yvette Herrell, who lost to Xochitl Torres Small, sued last week \u00a0to impound the absentee ballots. A judge ruled last week that the impoundment will take place\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/1247398\/judge-impound-dona-ana-absentee-ballots-after-vote-certified.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">after the statewide canvass is completed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel confident that the county clerk and her staff are following statute and following procedures,\u201d Toulouse Oliver said.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, her office has been working on the statewide canvass \u2014 which produces the final, official totals in elections \u2014 and approval from the state canvassing board on Nov. 27.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery time we do a canvass we learn a lesson about something,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<h3>Looking forward<\/h3>\n<p>The Secretary of State\u2019s Office is also looking ahead to the legislative session, when a number of bills related to elections will be up for discussion. And with a larger Democratic majority in the House, more progressive legislation is likely to pass that chamber.<\/p>\n<p>Toulouse Oliver said she will actively support same-day voter registration. Currently, 15 states and the District of Columbia allow same-day voter registration, according to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/elections-and-campaigns\/same-day-registration.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the National Conference of State Legislatures<\/a>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no technological reason why we couldn\u2019t safely engage in same-day voter registration,\u201d she said. Toulouse Oliver said the voter would likely need to provide additional information, like a drivers license number, as is required when someone registers online.<\/p>\n<p>Supporters of the effort say it would reduce another barrier for voters, leading to better participation.<\/p>\n<p>Toulouse Oliver also reiterated her support of open primaries, citing a large number of New Mexico voters who are not members of any major party, but wish to participate in primaries.<\/p>\n<p>More people voting in primaries, she said, will lead to higher participation in general elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParticipation begets participation. If you go vote once, that in and of itself makes you more likely to vote in the future than almost any other predictor of voter behavior,\u201d Toulouse Oliver said.<\/p>\n<p>The state\u2019s attorneys are still deciding how to respond to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lcsun-news.com\/story\/news\/local\/new-mexico\/2018\/11\/15\/new-mexico-primary-elections-target-independent-voters-democrat-republican-party\/2006756002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0over open primaries from a national organization, which thinks not allowing everyone to participate in primaries equates to taxation without representation, but wouldn\u2019t provide further details.<\/p>\n<p>Toulouse Oliver also weighed in on ranked-choice voting, which she said she isn\u2019t likely to be expanded to state elections. Ranked-choice voting takes place in Santa Fe and Las Cruces municipal elections currently.<\/p>\n<p>Toulouse Oliver said she believes ranked-choice voting \u201cworks best in a non-partisan environment where you have a wide variety of candidates\u201d and it keeps municipalities from needing expensive runoff elections.<\/p>\n<p>Some other adjustments Toulouse Oliver will be looking at are technical fixes for the Local Election Act, which consolidated local elections in an attempt to increase turnout on those elections, and seeking a more stable source of funding for the office, which has relied on supplemental state spending to do all its work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The staff at the Secretary of State\u2019s office is still working on elections as the final statewide canvass approaches this week, but also looking forward to the upcoming legislative session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":647922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2238,3351],"class_list":["post-647904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2018-election","tag-voter-turnout"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647904"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":647924,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647904\/revisions\/647924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}