SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s top elections regulator said Tuesday that she has been the target of harassing and threatening comments on social media after affirming President-elect Donald Trump’s national election victory in an attempt to halt conspiracy theories.
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver shared her concerns as she briefed a legislative panel about administration of the general election and progress toward certifying the vote tally amid a surge in same-day voter registration. She said she plans to contact law enforcement about the threats.
“I am currently experiencing threats, harassment — from even some members of this committee — online,” said Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat who has been subject repeatedly to threats in the past. “And I want to say that thankfully we have a law in place that protects me from this behavior.”
A 2023 state law made it a fourth-degree felony to intimidate a state or local election official.
After the hearing, Toulouse Oliver said she attempted to “nip some emerging conspiracy theories in the bud” with a post on the social platform X that stated Trump had won outright while acknowledging that some states were still counting votes and fewer voters showed up to the polls this year. In response, she said she was accused of committing treason and told she was “in the crosshairs.”
Toulouse Oliver later switched off public access to that X account — used for political and private conversations — and said she was gathering information to refer the matter to state police and the state attorney general. An official X account for the secretary of state’s office remains public.
Toulouse Oliver accused Republican state Rep. John Block, of Alamogordo, of egging on and “helping to foment the anger and some of the nasty comments online.” She did not cite specific posts.
Block said he too has been a victim on online harassment and “that has no place in this (legislative) body or anywhere else.”
“If it gets to violent threats like you described that you got, I apologize that that is happening to you,” Block said during the committee hearing.
Toulouse Oliver told lawmakers at the hearing that she’ll advocate for new security measures for state and local election workers to keep their home addresses confidential on government websites. A law enacted in 2023 offers that confidentiality to elected and appointed public officials.
Trump lost the general election for president in New Mexico to Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris. Democratic candidates were reelected to the state’s three congressional seats and a U.S. Senate seat, while Republicans gained a few seats in legislative races but remain in the state House and Senate minorities.
More than 52,000 people used same-day registration procedures to vote in New Mexico.
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
