New Mexico’s primary is expected to be held in June. Maggie Toulouse Oliver, New Mexico’s Secretary of State, requested that polling places be closed on that date and mail-in ballots be used instead of voting at the polls in person.
Coronavirus-centered public health guidelines in New Mexico, which include a limitation on mass gatherings and the closure of non-essential businesses, are expected to remain in place until at least the end of April.
While Chief Justice Judith Nakamura acknowledged the coronavirus threat and “the devastating effect that this virus has had and continues to have on our community,” she said the request to institute an all mail-in election was “specifically prohibited by New Mexico statute.”
“A mail ballot shall not be delivered by the county clerk to anyone other than the applicant for the ballot,” Nakamura said during Tuesday’s hearing.
“That being said, there is no prohibition regarding the secretary of state or county clerk from mailing out an application for an absentee ballot,” Nakamura added, before ordering county clerks to send absentee ballot applications to all New Mexico registered voters.
Toulouse Oliver emphasized the importance of keeping voter information updated in a Tuesday statement.
“Though the court today did not agree with the proposal put forward by my office and the state’s county clerks for an all-mail primary election in order to protect both the health and rights of New Mexico voters,” Toulouse Oliver said, “voters will still have everything they need to make their voices heard” in the state’s primary.
Some Republicans in New Mexico argued that mail-in voting lent itself to fraud because it could not be monitored adequately.
“You cannot monitor votes in such a mail-in ballot election,” said New Mexico Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce in an April statement. “Many states that use this process can scan ballots for security, but New Mexico doesn’t have that technology.”
Newsweek reached out to the Republican Party of New Mexico for comment.
“The Democratic Party of New Mexico remains concerned about how in-person voting could threaten the health and safety of many New Mexicans,” Democratic Party of New Mexico Chair Marg Elliston said Tuesday. “We regret that the GOP’s efforts to suppress the vote have made it harder to vote and put poll workers at risk, but we will not give up this fight.”
Coronavirus has caused the postponement of 18 state primaries so far, but mail-in balloting is still a source of controversy. After rescheduling New York’s primary to June, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in April that all New Yorkers would be able to cast absentee ballots due to the health threat posed by the coronavirus.
“I’ve seen lines of people on television voting in other states,” Cuomo said during a Wednesday news conference. “This is totally nonsensical. God bless them for having such diligence for their civil duty that they would go stand on a line to vote. But people shouldn’t have to make that choice.”
President Donald Trump has taken the opposite opinion, telling reporters in April that mail-in ballots encourage voters to be dishonest.
“Mail ballots—they cheat, okay?” Trump said. “People cheat. There’s a lot of dishonesty going along with mail-in voting.”
