New Mexico

Despite wrongful denials, New Mexico veteran who completed his sentence for a felony finally votes • Source New Mexico

Published

2 years ago

November 4, 2024

Despite wrongful denials, New Mexico veteran who completed his sentence for a felony finally votes • Source New Mexico

Virgil Dixon was born in New Mexico but had been away for two decades moving around the country, following his son and grandchild to remain close to them.

Dixon, 71, made it a priority to register to vote and was able to cast ballots everywhere he lived: in Iowa, Oregon and Minnesota.

Those states, like New Mexico, allow people like Dixon – who was once convicted of a felony – to vote.

But after he returned to his home state in 2022, he tried to register to vote the following year and was denied his right, because he was convicted of possessing cocaine more than two decades earlier.

Virgil Dixon shown when he returned to New Mexico in 2022, outside that year’s Gathering of Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque. (Courtesy photo)

People with felony convictions can vote in New Mexico. The state has for many years allowed people who are out of prison — and who are no longer on probation or parole — to re-register to vote.

When Dixon tried to register to vote in 2023, Bernalillo County Clerk Linda Stover sent him an outdated registration form asking him whether he served his full time in prison.

The thing is, Dixon has never been in prison. A judge sentenced him to one year of unsupervised probation, and he completed it in 2001.

However, on July 27, 2023, Stover wrote a letter to Dixon telling him he was not eligible to vote because he had been convicted of a felony.

Whenever someone is convicted of a felony in New Mexico, the state’s voter registration system attaches a “felony flag” to their name, making them ineligible to vote.

Until a 2023 change in the law, the only way to get the flag removed was for the Corrections Department or the voter themselves to have it removed.

This resulted in felony flags being attached not just to people in prison but also to everyone who had ever been convicted of a felony, including those still on probation or parole, and those who had long completed their sentences.

Dixon said he felt like tearing up the letter. He tried to register a second time in September 2024, and was rejected again for the same reason.

“My spirit just got shot down,” he said in an interview.

Dixon said the denials triggered his post-traumatic stress disorder. He was a U.S. Army combat engineer in the Vietnam War from 1972 to 1973.

“I blew my top,” Dixon said. “I was ready to say, ‘To heck with it all,’ you know?”

Virgil Dixon, 71, is a grandfather, a retired Army combat engineer and a citizen of Navajo Nation. He is shown in his apartment in Albuquerque on Oct. 28, 2024, days after he voted in the 2024 General Election. (Photo by Bright Quashie for Source New Mexico)

‘Emotional disenfranchisement’

On July 1, 2023, a new state law went into effect, restoring voting rights to people with felony convictions as soon as they get out of prison, including those who are still on probation or parole.

It restored the franchise to an estimated 11,000 New Mexicans, according to the Sentencing Project, which advocates for lowering the number of people behind bars.

But over the following 15 months, Dixon and about 900 other New Mexicans’ voter registrations were wrongfully denied because New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver used an incorrect list showing they were still in prison, said Daniel Yohalem, a civil rights attorney representing Dixon and the other plaintiffs in the case.

The new law requires the New Mexico Corrections Department to give Toulouse Oliver a list of people in prison and therefore ineligible to vote, so she can register everyone who’s eligible, including those on probation and parole.

However, the Corrections Department failed to give her the list, leaving her to rely on outdated and inaccurate information to populate the statewide voter registration system.

When the county clerks ran those registrations against the Secretary of State’s bad list, that caused those people to be rejected, Yohalem said in an interview.

After repeated unsuccessful attempts over the past year to convince Toulouse Oliver to implement the new law, court documents show, Yohalem and the Washington D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center filed the lawsuit.

Less than two weeks later, on Oct. 8, a judge ordered Toulouse Oliver and the Corrections Department to make the changes needed to implement the new law.

Following the judge’s order, Toulouse Oliver directed all 33 county clerks to stop using the old voter registration form, and to use only the new corrected ones, Yohalem said.

The old forms were unlawful because they incorrectly stated that, unless the governor had personally pardoned them, people with felony convictions cannot vote until they had served their whole sentence and completed all conditions of parole probation, according to the lawsuit.

Toulouse Oliver also changed some incorrect references to the old forms on her official website, Yohalem said.

Toulouse Oliver compiled a list of the people who were improperly denied after the new law went into effect, sent it to the clerks and directed them to reprocess those people, and unless they’ve gone back into prison for a new crime, they’re supposed to be registered, he said.

The Corrections Department sent an updated list of people in prison as of Oct. 1 to Toulouse Oliver, and set up a hotline for clerks to call to determine whether someone is incarcerated.

But people impacted by the criminal legal system aren’t going to return to a government building asking to vote, said Selinda Guerrero, a core organizer with Millions for Prisoners New Mexico, a plaintiff in the suit. She calls this “emotional disenfranchisement.”

“There’s so many restrictions if you’ve been convicted of a felony that you essentially are under Jim Crow law,” she said. “You’re a second-class citizen.”

When she tried to reach back out to people who had been wrongly rejected, some had completely lost hope, she said.

“We’re having to re-energize people and try to convince them that this also belongs to them all over again,” Guerrero said.

Virgil Dixon stands before the Sandia Mountains reflecting the sunset outside Albuquerque. (Photo by Bright Quashie for Source New Mexico)

‘This is home’

As part of the lawsuit, Dixon explained to the court why voting is important to him as a citizen of the Navajo Nation.

“I want to be able to vote in my home state of New Mexico, where my Diné homelands are,” he said in a sworn affidavit.

During World War II, Dixon’s grandfather Richard Thomas, of Shiprock, was a Navajo Code Talker, a group that used their tribal language to secretly transmit messages during battles against Japan. The state of New Mexico did not provide Native Americans the right to vote until a U.S. Marine and Pueblo of Isleta citizen used the courts to force the issue in 1948, well after that war ended.

Dixon’s case is an example of the barriers to Native voting access that remain to this day, including sparse mail pickup in rural and tribal regions, racist gerrymandering in local elections, and polling places located on the other side of poorly maintained or non-existent roads.

In fact, the same state law being fought over in this case also enacted the first-in-the-nation Native American Voting Rights Act, which mandates state and local election officials consult and cooperate with tribal governments on where to locate polling locations, among other reforms.

While there’s no national data for felony disenfranchisement’s impact on Native people, their representation in New Mexico’s population and criminal legal system indicates they’re heavily impacted by felony disenfranchisement laws and policies, according to Human Rights Watch.

Native American representation in New Mexico’s prisons — in other words their share of past felony convictions that land someone in prison — in 2023 surpassed the national rate, with just over 10% compared to 2% nationally, according to the New Mexico Sentencing Commission.

Dixon is a success story in this case. Stover reprocessed his and the other three named plaintiffs’ voter registrations after the judge’s order came down, Yohalem said. Dixon said he mailed in his 2024 ballot on Oct. 15.

“Now I know my voice is heard,” he said.

The day after he mailed in his ballot, Dixon said was sitting in his apartment in Albuquerque, looking at the Sandia Mountains through his bedroom window.

“Oh man, it’s good to be back home,” Dixon recalls telling himself – physically in the same place, but still a world away from the lost feeling he felt when he couldn’t vote.

He wants to hang around on this planet a little longer to see his grandchildren grow.

“I really feel like I’m settled in New Mexico, you know? This is home.”

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New Mexico

Phoebe Bridgers Debuts New Music at First Show in Three Years

Published

4 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

Phoebe Bridgers Debuts New Music at First Show in Three Years

Phoebe Bridgers played her first solo show in three years on Friday night at The Liberty in Roswell, New Mexico. And if reports are to be believed, the singer’s next album/creative era could truly be out of this world.

The intimate, 13-song set at the 400-capacity venue served as Bridgers’ first solo performance since May 2023 when she opened for Taylor Swift at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. According to posts from several attendees, Bridgers described the evening (which strictly forbid all recording devices) as a “test” for her third album (and follow-up to 2020’s excellent Punisher).

In addition to hits like “Motion Sickness” and “Kyoto,” Bridgers debuted three to four new songs. One attendee described the new music, which included one track tentatively-titled “This is Gonna Kill Me,” as “very sad folk.” Harmonica arrangements were also featured prominently across the new music, provided by Christian Lee Hutson, who served as part of Bridgers’ band.

New Mexico

New Mexico DOJ data: Shell-casing tracking links shootings in Doña Ana County

Published

16 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

LAS CRUCES, N.M (KFOX14/CBS4) — A gun-tracking program that uses shell casings to connect shootings is already helping investigators link crimes in Doña Ana County, according to new numbers released by the New Mexico Department of Justice.

The effort is part of New Mexico’s Crime Gun Intelligence Center, which uses ballistic evidence such as shell casings to track guns believed to be used in multiple crimes. The program relies on the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, or NIBIN, a national database that compares ballistic evidence to determine whether shell casings may have come from the same weapon.

In April, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez described how the technology can connect cases across jurisdictions.

“There may be a shooting that occurs in Deming that’s actually connected to a crime gun that’s recovered in Las Cruces. We may find shell casings in Silver City that are connected to something that happened in T or C,” Torrez said.

Four months into the program, the Department of Justice said 210 bullet casings have been analyzed in Doña Ana County. Those casings helped link 32 incidents to 13 guns.

Jordan Salas reports on New Mexico DOJ data: Shell-casing tracking links shootings in Doña Ana County (Credit: KFOX14)

Statewide, more than 700 casings have been entered into the system, connecting 74 shootings to 31 guns.

One person reacting to the numbers said, “That’s crazy. Honestly, all those shootings all coming from that little amount of weapons is crazy.”

New Mexico officials say the system is designed to help law enforcement share information faster and build cases more efficiently.

Also in April, Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart pointed to a local case she said the technology helped resolve quickly.

“We resolved a homicide with a suspect arrest in four days. We know that those casings may lead to another 1 or 2 incidents in another city,” Stewart said.

Some residents said the technology alone will not solve gun violence, but they see it as a step forward. One person said, “I mean, growing up, like hearing gunshots in the distance. That wasn’t something crazy. I have stories of, like, friends who’ve gone to parties that had guns go off there. So, yeah, I would say guns are a problem there.”

Another person said, “I would think that it’s a good thing. I’m personally like, just anything to help the gun crimes, you know?”

KFOX14/CBS4 contacted Las Cruces police and the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office to ask how the leads are being used in local investigations, but we are awaiting a response.

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New Mexico

New Mexico AG seeks $3.7B from Meta over alleged ‘public nuisance’ claims

Published

1 day ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

New Mexico AG seeks .7B from Meta over alleged ‘public nuisance’ claims

(Photo Credit: FotoField/Shutterstock)

Who: New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez brought a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc.
Why: The state claims Meta misrepresented harms to minors and created a public nuisance through its social media platforms.
Where: The lawsuit is pending in New Mexico state court.
How to get help: Has social media impacted the mental health of you or your child? You may qualify to join a social media lawsuit against the platform.

New Mexico’s attorney general is asking a state court to order Meta to pay approximately $3.7 billion to address what the state describes as a “public nuisance” caused by the company’s social media platforms.

The request comes after a jury previously found Meta misrepresented the risks its platforms — including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — pose to underage users. The jury also imposed a $375 million penalty in the first phase of the trial.

The case has now moved into a second phase, where the court will determine what additional remedies, if any, Meta must provide.

According to the state, the proposed $3.712 billion abatement plan would fund a 15-year effort to address the alleged harms caused by Meta’s platforms. The plan includes funding for public education, school resources, law enforcement support and mental health services for children affected by issues, such as online bullying and sexual exploitation.

“This request recognizes the scope of the public nuisance that Meta has caused,” counsel for the state argued in court.

The lawsuit alleges Meta concealed or downplayed the extent of harmful activity on its platforms while publicly portraying them as safe for younger users.

Meta disputes liability, challenges proposed abatement plan

Meta denies the allegations and argues there is no legal basis for the sweeping relief requested by the state.

Attorneys for the company contend the proposed abatement plan does not directly address or stop the alleged harmful conduct and instead seeks compensation for downstream effects.

“What no court has ever allowed … is payment for the downstream effects,” Meta’s counsel argued, describing the request as “damages masquerading as something else.”

The court is expected to hear additional testimony during the second phase of the trial before determining whether to approve any form of injunctive relief or financial remedies.

In March, a California jury found Meta and Google liable for mental health harms suffered by plaintiff Kaley G.M., who became addicted to Instagram and YouTube as a child, awarding $6 million in damages, including $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages.

What do you think about the claims against Meta in this case? Let us know in the comments.

The state is represented by Raul Torrez of the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General and Donald Migliori, Linda Singer, Michael Pendell and David Ackerman of Motley Rice LLC.

The Meta lawsuit is New Mexico v. Meta Platforms Inc., et al., Case No. D-101-CV-2023-02838, in the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico.

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