SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The Republican Party on Thursday urged the state's top election regulator to resign as secretary of state because she is running for the U.S. Senate.
The state GOP said that Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver should resign to ensure the integrity of the 2020 election. The party provided phone numbers for the secretary of state's office and urged voters to request that Toulouse Oliver resign.
In a conversation with The Associated Press this week, Toulouse Oliver said she has faith the election will be conducted fairly. She says that county clerks provide an extra layer of independent oversight of the state's "robust, transparent and bipartisan" election process.
Toulouse Oliver said complaints about her role will be referred for independent review to the state attorney general's office, overseen by Democrat Hector Balderas, or the nascent state independent ethics commission when it begins work next year.
Republican secretaries of state kept their jobs in Kansas and Georgia when they ran for governor in 2018.
Georgia's Brian Kemp dismissed as politically motivated many requests by prominent Democrats for him to step down as secretary of state before he was elected governor. Prominent Democrats including former President Jimmy Carter and voter-rights groups called for Kemp to step down amid charges he was abusing his office to make it harder for some Georgians, particularly minorities, to vote.
Toulouse Oliver is seeking the Democratic nomination against U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján.
Gavin Clarkson is seeking the Republican nomination. He lost the race for secretary of state last year to Toulouse Oliver by 20 percentage points.
The seat is opening because of the retirement of Democratic Sen. Tom Udall.