Hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans vote by mail every year. But President Donald Trump’s administration has spent months trying to fast-track major changes to how those ballots are processed and counted.
On Aug. 24, the Supreme Court paused a lower court’s ruling that had blocked the Trump administration’s push to overhaul absentee voting before Election Day.
The court’s six conservative justices agreed to pause a lower court’s ruling that had struck down parts of a March executive order requiring states to share voter data with the federal government.
In June, a US District judge ruled that the administration’s attempt to collect lists of eligible voters and deliver ballots only to federally approved individuals exceeded the president’s authority. She found parts of the order unconstitutional, and blocked the administration from carrying it out.
What the USPS rule would actually do
But even with the court’s ruling, the US Postal Service (USPS) still proposed and published a new rule that would bar the agency from delivering mail ballots in states that don’t comply with federal requests for voter information. The final rule requires states to identify registered voters to the federal government and add a standardized barcode to envelopes used for absentee ballots.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez joined a coalition of state attorneys general opposing the USPS rule when it was first proposed. Last month, Torrez called the proposed rule a “significant and unnecessary threat” against voting rights in New Mexico in a press release.
The rule was set to take effect immediately, pending the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The Aug. 24 ruling doesn’t clear the way for USPS to act just yet: the agency remains blocked nationwide under a separate court order, and the Supreme Court has said it won’t implement the new rule for this year’s election unless it wins relief from that order, too. In its appeal, the administration argued the June ruling came too early for states to show they had actually been harmed.
What New Mexico officials are saying
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver has been a vocal opponent of the Trump administration’s challenges to absentee voting and has vowed not to share sensitive voter data with federal officials.
The New Mexico Secretary of State’s office told Courier New Mexico in an emailed statement that New Mexicans should still plan to vote by mail despite the ruling.
“The bottom line is that yesterday’s decision did not impact how voters can participate in the election this year,” Lindsey Bachmann, director of communications for the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office, wrote.
Bachmann criticized the decision, writing that it “creates unnecessary chaos and unsubstantiated doubt” for voters trying to make a voting plan.
Bachmann added: “The Secretary of State’s Office has been working closely with the New Mexico Department of Justice in preparation of such a ruling and will challenge the executive order anew.”
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-Santa Fe) echoed the call for further legal challenges to the decision and the USPS rule.
“We are going to continue to bring those legal cases and those battles,” said Leger Fernández in a social media post following the news. “And more importantly, Americans are going to show up to vote.”
How to vote by mail in New Mexico
If you want to vote by mail in New Mexico, you have until Oct. 20 to request a ballot. You can also track your ballot online to make sure it’s counted.
