CPD affiliate members from OLÉ are celebrating an expansion of democracy in New Mexico after the legislature passed and Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law Same Day Registration and Automated Voter Registration on March 27. An estimated 300,000 people now have expanded voting rights thanks to these measures.

OLÉ believes "nothing about us without us is for us" and OLÉ members brought their voices to the legislature to make voting rights a central issue in this year’s legislative session. OLÉ members spoke with various law makers, testified in committees, wrote Op Eds, and appeared on a local news program to speak about the impact that voting rights have on every day New Mexicans.  Watch OLÉ’s members Lauren and Eric on a CPD Facebook live stream discuss their work to advance democracy this session.

To expand voting rights OLÉ worked in coalition to draft and introduce two voting rights bills for Same Day Voter Registration (House Bill 86) and Automatic Voter Registration (House Bill 84). OLÉ organized, advocated and brought members of the community to the capitol to support their democracy bills. The legislation passed the House fairly quickly. The success of this is the result of the hard work of the coalition and rank and file members from OLÉ who pushed for its passage.

While this is a step forward for voting rights in New Mexico, the next fight is robust implementation to ensure the policies are as expansive and inclusive as possible and to ensure that government agencies that interface with the community are equipped to help register new voters.

Voting rights builds community power and every state agency should offer voter registration. OLÉ is fired up for implementation and CPD is excited to work with them to fight for a robust and inclusive democracy in New Mexico and beyond!