SOS Maggie Toulouse Oliver
By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post
caclark@ladailypost.com
Maggie Toulouse Oliver won another term as New Mexico Secretary Of State in Tuesday night’s election.
Secretary Toulouse Oliver received 54 percent or 383,879 votes over Republican opponent Audrey Trujillo with 43 percent or 300,460 votes and Libertarian Mayna Erika Myers with 3 percent or 20,015.
“My team and I are beyond thrilled to announce that New Mexicans have elected me to serve another term as Secretary of State,” Secretary Toulouse Oliver said in a news release. “This is a huge win for our democracy. Just this year, New Mexico was infiltrated with an obscene amount of conspiracy theories and misinformation about our elections by far-right extremists. Our democracy was truly on the line this election.”
She was first appointed to public office in 2007 when she became County Clerk in New Mexico’s largest county, Bernalillo County. Elected to her first full term in 2008, Secretary Toulouse Oliver served 2 1/2 terms as County Clerk until she was elected as Secretary of State in 2016. Overseeing elections in the state’s largest county gave Secretary Toulouse Oliver detailed, on-the-ground expertise in election administration that has helped to guide her work overseeing elections statewide, she said.
“I cannot thank you enough for your continuous support and dedication throughout this year,” Secretary Toulouse Oliver said. “Through the ups and downs, good times and bad, you all stuck with us – and our state came out of it stronger than ever. We have always been able to rely on our supporters, and I never had a doubt in my mind that you would rise to the challenges this year brought us.”
Toulouse OIiver has called New Mexico home since the age of 3 and is New Mexico’s 26th Secretary of State. She has served the people of New Mexico in this role since first being elected in 2016.
Secretary Toulouse Oliver has been involved in politics and public policy for over two decades and has made public service the focus of her career. Her work has focused on increasing voter access, running efficient, secure, and fair elections, and bringing more transparency and increased ethical standards to government.
Secretary Toulouse Oliver worked her way through college and graduate school. While earning her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Political Science from the University of New Mexico, Secretary Toulouse Oliver worked for U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman in his DC Office and on his re-election campaign in 2000. She also gained activism and organizing experience working with Native American tribes in New Mexico, fighting for reproductive justice, and protecting the Environment as the NM State Director for the League of Conservation Voters.
Since becoming Secretary of State she has implemented increased transparency rules for financial disclosure and campaign finance reporting, modernized the online campaign finance system, helped craft and pass good government legislation like same-day voter registration, automated voter registration, and the state’s newly-formed Ethics Commission.
