Why should we Trust Maggie Toulouse Oliver for Secretary of State?

Category: Editorials Editorials
Published: 10 October 2016 10 October 2016

Recently, Maggie Toulouse Oliver stated, GǣIf elected, I plan to restore public trust in NM governmentGǥ. Does that mean that while in her current position as Bernalillo County Clerk, she is exempt from gaining and maintaining the trust of the voters of Bernalillo County?

On September 26th, my wife and I received a mailing from the Bernalillo County Clerk's Office where Toulouse Oliver currently serves. The mailing expressed the excitement of the County Clerk's office to Gǣbring back the extremely successful new innovationGǥ, called GǣVoter Express Check-InGǥ. The letter contained our Gǣunique barcode IDGǥ, which is intended to make the time waiting in the voting line shorter. All we have to do is bring our unique barcode ID to any voting convenience center, have it scanned, our information verified, and our ballot is on its way!

On the surface, this seemed to be a great idea -- until we found two additional envelopes in that same day's mail. The two additional envelopes contained the Gǣunique barcode ID'sGǥ for the prior owners of our residence, who sold that home to us over eleven years ago.

Since Toulouse Oliver doesn't support voter ID, sending erroneous unique barcode IDs would seem to open up a great opportunity for voter fraud. All anyone would have to do is take that letter to any voting convenience center where they hadn't already voted in their own name and voila, they could vote in someone else's name. Of the 600,000 plus residents who reside in Bernalillo County, we can't be the only household who received duplicate mailings of this nature. So I'm wondering if there will be widespread voter fraud in Bernalillo County during the upcoming election season. I'm also wondering, given the myriad of opportunities for fraudulent voter activity, how anyone could oppose Voter ID.

Maybe the County Clerk's office has taken the Gǣvote early, vote oftenGǥ stance a little too seriously or maybe this is just irresponsible management of the office in which Toulouse Oliver is currently working. Regardless of what happened and why, this mailing is extremely concerning to me.

The Toulouse Oliver op-ed went on to say, GǣThe truth is we need a secretary of state focused on protecting our right to vote and who can restore the public's trust, ...Gǥ

I completely agree. The problem is I don't trust what has happened in that office and I believe our rights as voters are not being protected. Another case in point was the voter disenfranchisement of over 100,000 voters in the last school board election when Toulouse Oliver failed to provide early voting locations on the northwest side of town. Both of these examples demonstrate how Toulouse Oliver, the current Bernalillo County Clerk, is not taking care of the voters' business.

Do we really have to wait for Maggie Toulouse Oliver to become the new Secretary of State before she can be trusted?

By Gene Polito

Albuquerque resident

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