New Mexico secretary of state explains law barring armed federal agents at polls

Geoff Bennett:

With primary season already under way, election officials are preparing for November, and some Democratic-led states worried about the possibility of armed soldiers or ICE officers appearing near polling places are taking steps to counter what they see as a potential effort to intimidate voters.

Our Liz Landers has more.

Liz Landers:

This week, Connecticut's governor signed into law a measure that expands no-excuse absentee voting, while also restricting armed federal agents near polling places. Portions of the law were modeled on New Mexico, which earlier this year became the first state to pass such a ban near polling places.

Joining us to discuss how states are dealing with election security and voter intimidation concerns is Maggie Toulouse Oliver, the New Mexico secretary of state.

Madam Secretary, thank you for joining "News Hour."

Maggie Toulouse Oliver:

Thank you for having me.

Liz Landers:

So, federal law dating back to the Civil War already bans sending the military or other -- quote -- "armed men" to polling places in most instances.

But I asked President Trump about this recently, Here was our exchange.

The midterm elections, would you send the National Guard or ICE to voting locations in November? Would you do that?

President Donald Trump:

Well, you know what? I would do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections. We have to have honest elections.

Liz Landers:

So you're not ruling that out?

What enforcement mechanism does the state have in the moment if armed federal forces show up at the polls?

Maggie Toulouse Oliver:

Well, the good news is, here in New Mexico, we recently passed some legislation to address this very question, because, in reality, neither the National Guard nor ICE nor any federal entity has a role in the election process or a responsibility or the power to interfere in the election process.

And, in fact, as we know, going back to the Jim Crow days, any involvement of law enforcement or the military can be perceived as intimidation by voters. And so we passed legislation here in New Mexico this year, Senate Bill 264, that not only prohibits agencies like ICE from interfering in the election process, but it also creates both civil and criminal penalties.

For example, it will be a fourth-degree felony if either an agent of a federal agency like ICE or a superior who orders them under color of law to interfere with the election process. They will be prosecuted here in New Mexico.

Liz Landers:

Does that mean that if you got a call from a clerk that said there are ICE agents close to a voting location, that you would then call a sheriff? Or what would you do in that moment?

Maggie Toulouse Oliver:

Here in New Mexico, like many other states, we have a number of partners, law enforcement and otherwise, that we work with during the election process.

So, in New Mexico, we work with local police, State Police, county sheriffs, and Homeland Security.

And what we could do in that situation, depending on who was the closest and who had jurisdiction, is, we could ask an individual -- even a representative from the attorney general's office, say, a deputy attorney general, could go and inform the individual that may be in violation of our state law that they are in violation of state law and could incur civil or criminal penalties if they don't leave immediately.

Liz Landers:

This law also introduces new penalties for anyone opening a ballot box or opening a voting machine if they are not permitted to. Why was that necessary?

Maggie Toulouse Oliver:

Well, I mean, I think many of us in the election world and many just average folks are aware of the situation that happened this last year or so in Georgia, where federal agents went and sort of took over a local election office and took records, et cetera, to conduct, again, some sort of a red herring investigation based on really going back to what we refer to as the big lie from 2020, in other words, that the election was stolen when it was not.

And so those records are sacrosanct. If they are taken out of the possession of the appropriate officer, in this case in New Mexico, the county clerks, that can create huge problems, potential privacy violations, et cetera. And we wanted to prevent that from happening in New Mexico as well.

Liz Landers:

Have you heard any response from the federal government after this law passed?

Maggie Toulouse Oliver:

We have not heard anything directly from the federal government regarding our particular legislation that we have passed here in New Mexico.

To the extent that we have heard anything, it's been through a game of telephone, third party, for example, the question that you asked the president recently that we hear through the media, but we have not received any direct contact about the legislation.

Liz Landers:

What is your biggest fear about election security in these upcoming midterms?

Maggie Toulouse Oliver:

I think my biggest fear has been and continues to be the perception that our elections are not secure. Our elections are incredibly secure.

The folks that are running elections around this country are incredibly dedicated to following both federal and state laws and to ensuring that every eligible voter can cast a ballot. So I think, first and foremost, that misinformation about the security of our election process can be extremely damaging.

We are prepared for potential cyberattacks, potential physical, not only attacks, but attempts to interfere in the election process. And I think our fears at the end of the day come down to, what scenario have we not already thought of? What are we not already prepared for?

Liz Landers:

New Mexico was one of many states the Department of Justice has requested to turn over your voter rolls and private voter data. When your office did not comply, the DOJ sued New Mexico and you personally. Why did you refuse?

Maggie Toulouse Oliver:

Well, so New Mexico is one of a handful of states, first of all, that uses the full Social Security number for voter registration in order to identify voters and ensure that there are not duplicates, ensuring that individuals are not pretending to be the voter on their behalf.

And so, for us, that is the gold standard, and we want to maintain that, even the last four of a Social Security number, but especially a full Social Security number and a full date of birth. Those are the keys to identity theft, right?

And we are not in the business of sharing that data with anybody for any reason, other than to do our job as election officials.

Liz Landers:

New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, thank you for your time.

Maggie Toulouse Oliver:

Thank you.