ALBUQUERQUE, NM- Dr. Gavin Clarkson, Republican nominee for Secretary of State, released the following statement after Maggie Toulouse Oliver's announcement today that she will unilaterally reinstate straight-party voting for this November's general election ballot:
"Maggie Toulouse Oliver's unilateral and likely illegal straight-party ballot decree is an attack on our democracy and the rule of law. Sadly this act of voter suppression is just another cynical example of the abuse of power in the service of extreme partisanship. That's why I'm running to restore impartiality and integrity to our state's ethics and elections.
"Straight-party voting was repealed in 2001 by a Democratic legislature and a Republican governor, Gary Johnson. Specifically, House Bill 931 repealed Section 1-9-4 of the Election Code, which permitted each voter "to vote a straight party ticket in one operation." That was the only law authorizing straight party voting in New Mexico, and it has been gone for nearly two decades.
"Since then, the people's elected representatives in the legislature have refused to reinstate it. Only nine states still use it, six have repealed it in the past decade, and another state is dropping it in 2020.
"Legally speaking, the Secretary of State simply doesn't have the authority to unilaterally make laws, especially against the expressed will of the legislative branch as she is now attempting to do. Thus her actions are not only an insult to the idea of an informed electorate but also an attack against the will of the people of this state and their elected representatives.
"It is clear that Maggie Toulouse Oliver is trying to turn back the clock to an era of back rooms and party bosses. Her transparent attempt to unfairly help her own re-election campaign and the rest of her party's underperforming ticket must be stopped for the sake of public trust in our institutions. Her participation as both candidate and referee in this election is looking increasingly like a conflict of interest.
"Radical ideologues like Maggie Toulouse Oliver don't believe in letting the people govern, and they don't think the people have the critical thinking capacity to evaluate each candidate independently. This is what happens when you have an adjunct political science professor attempting to practice law."
Dr. Clarkson, a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, said he fully supports the lawsuit announced by the New Mexico Republican Party and has offered his legal services pro bono in support of their efforts.
About Gavin Clarkson:
Dr. Gavin Clarkson is the Republican nominee for New Mexico Secretary of State. He is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Economic Development in the Department of the Interior and a former Associate Professor in the College of Business at New Mexico State University. He has a BA and MBA from Rice University, is a cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School and is the first tribal member to ever earn a doctorate from the Harvard Business School (in Technology and Operations Management). At Harvard he was the President of the Native American Law Students Association, Managing Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, and the only doctoral graduate in the history of the Harvard Business School who has also placed in a livestock show.