Albuquerque, April 9--In a press release issued today by the Democratic Party of New Mexico regarding a brief it filed in connection with mail-in ballots, the following statement was included:

"The Republican Party's position is that in person voting should remain the same as pre-pandemic times, endangering voters, election workers and public servants."

Disgraceful. This is an absolute falsehood, a lie, and the Republican Party of New Mexico is shocked and dismayed that the Democratic Party would release such a distorted statement. The DPNM is doing nothing less than telling the public we're allowing people to die. That's fear mongering.

The RPNM NEVER supported the idea of an in-person election during the pandemic. The Party has always stressed its concern for the safety and health of all New Mexicans, and so it supports mail-in absentee ballots.

It's beyond belief that the DPNM would blatantly lie about this, and the Party should publicly apologize. In addition, the fact that the DPNM agrees with a petition to the Supreme Court over election procedures demonstrates that DPNM supports a violation of New Mexico's separation of powers. The legislature is responsible for election law, not the Supreme Court.

DPNM Chair Marg Elliston also said in the release that the Republicans' lawsuit to stop mail-in ballots was "a partisan attempt to disenfranchise voters and suppress turnout" and that Republicans need "to stop spreading misinformation and start prioritizing the health and safety of all New Mexicans."

"I'm stunned and angered that the Democrats would suggest this, to say that we'd want to endanger lives. To besmirch our Party with such statements is beyond belief," said Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce. "Health and safety of voters and poll workers are the most important things. We went to the Supreme Court to stop vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots which have no protections against fraud. Mail-in absentee ballots do. Again, RPNM wants everyone to be healthy and safe, so we welcome mail-in absentee voting."

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