SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s top election regulator said Tuesday that she has been the target of intimidating and threatening comments on social media after she certified President-elect Donald Trump’s national election victory in an effort to stamp out conspiracy theories to call out.
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver shared her concerns as she briefed a legislative panel on the administration of the general election and progress toward certifying vote counts amid a surge in voter registration on the same day. She said she plans to contact police about the threats.
“I am currently experiencing threats and intimidation — even from some members of this committee — online,” said Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat who has been the victim of repeated threats in the past. “And I want to say that fortunately we have a place law 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 tried to “nip some emerging conspiracy theories in the bud” with a post on the social platform fewer voters showed up. In this year’s polls, she said she was accused of treason and was “in the crosshairs.”
Toulouse Oliver later disabled public access to that X account — which was used for political and private conversations — and said she was gathering information to refer the case to state police and the attorney general. An official X account for the Secretary of State remains public.
Toulouse Oliver accused Republican state Rep. John Block of Alamogordo of inciting and fueling the anger and some nasty comments online. She did not quote specific messages.
Block said he, too, has been a victim of online harassment and “that there is no place for that in this (legislative) body or anywhere else.”
“When it comes to violent threats like you described, I apologize that this happened to you,” Block said during the committee hearing.
Toulouse Oliver told lawmakers at the hearing that she will advocate for new security measures for state and local election workers to keep their home addresses confidential on government websites. A 2023 law provides this confidentiality to elected and appointed government officials.
Trump lost the general election for president in New Mexico to Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris. Democratic candidates were re-elected to the state’s three congressional seats and a seat in the U.S. Senate, while Republicans gained a few seats in legislative races but remained in the minority positions of the state House and Senate.
More than 52,000 people used same-day registration procedures to vote in New Mexico.
