WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Askume) – Top elections officials in two U.S. states warned a congressional panel on Wednesday that ideological efforts to subvert the electoral system have eroded confidence in elections and resulted in persistent threats against poll workers.
“This is a vicious cycle that must be cut short for the good of our country,” New Mexico Democratic Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said in written testimony before the House Administration Committee, which oversees federal elections.
Toulouse-Olivier is one of six state elections officials scheduled to appear Wednesday before a committee hearing on public confidence in the Nov. 5 election.
He warned that the US election was being influenced by “conspiracies, misinformation and lies” in the public mind, leading to threats, violence and requests for frivolous public information.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, told lawmakers in a written statement that the threat of false information spreading is growing, creating a “widespread sense of concern” among election administrators.
“People have come to my home or threatened me, my staff, and hundreds of clerks and local election officials across our state,” Benson said. “We cannot have a safe election if we don’t protect the safety of those who administer our elections and our democracy.”
Neither Toulouse-Oliver nor Benson revealed the identities of those trying to discredit the US election.
In recent weeks, Republican Donald Trump has intensified false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and suggested without evidence that this year’s election could be influenced by people who illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to vote.
Republicans in Congress are trying this week to pressure Democrats to accept a bill sought by Trump that would require proof of citizenship for anyone registering to vote in federal elections.
Toulouse Olivier called the claims about non-citizen voting an example of misinformation that undermines voter confidence.
“Non-citizen voting is not done in any systematic way in New Mexico or across the country,” he said.
It is a crime for non-citizens to vote, and independent studies show it rarely happens.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, told the panel that the state’s voters are concerned about noncitizen voting as record numbers of immigrants are coming to the country under President Joe Biden .
LaRose’s office said last month that “there are very few noncitizens registered to vote in this country who are actually registered to vote.”
Overall, Ohio has about 8 million registered voters, according to state records.
West Virginia Secretary of State Mike Warner, a Republican, criticized Biden for using a 2023 executive order to direct federal agencies to help people register to vote. That action has recently been the target of a Republican lawsuit that claims it could open the door to voting for noncitizens.
Warner claimed the executive order would result in “voting outside the law.”
