An initiative designed to “build trust” in New Mexico will deploy nonpartisan election observers across the state, organizers announced yesterday. Observe New Mexico Elections, funded by The Carter Center, a nonprofit based in Atlanta, Georgia, and founded by former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, has a five-member cross-partisan advisory board that includes former Repubilcan New Mexico Gov. Garrey Carruthers, Justice Barbara J Vigil, former state Republican Party Chairman Ryan Cangiolosi, Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission Executive Director Leonard Gorman and Maureen Sanders, who a news release says has conducted legal election protection efforts for the Democratic Party. “My longstanding interest in ethics and good governance inspired me to answer the call to serve Observe New Mexico Elections,” Carruthers says in a statement. “As a former governor and university leader, I believe it’s crucial to uphold the highest standards of integrity in our public institutions, including our electoral processes.” Having served on the state Supreme Court, Vigil says in a statement, “I see my role on the advisory board of Observe NM Elections as a natural extension of that commitment. Ensuring the integrity and transparency of our electoral process is crucial for maintaining public trust in our democracy.” As part of Observe New Mexico Elections’ work, voters selected from all counties “learn about relevant laws and procedures in New Mexico’s electoral process and will report on how those procedures are implemented.”
Read the full article by Julia Goldberg, Santa Fe Reporter