A University of New Mexico class is getting involved in state politics through a very millennial form of communication, Twitter.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State candidates Nora Espinoza, a Republican member of the state’s House of Representatives, and Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat who is currently the Bernalillo County Clerk, will field student questions on the social media site.
Billed as a Twitter town hall, the event is the creation of adjunct professor Kate Nash Cunningham for her class in UNM’s Department of Communication and Journalism.
“There’s been very few public debates between Nora Espinoza and Maggie Toulouse Oliver so it seemed like a natural fit,” said Nash Cunningham, a long time New Mexico reporter who has covered state and local politics.
The New Mexico News Port, a journalism lab at UNM that has students write about news around the state, is hosting the Twitter town hall. It kicks off tomorrow at 11:15 a.m. and will last about an hour.
And the town hall is open to anyone with a Twitter account. To participate, users should tweet their questions to the Twitter account, @Nmnewsport, or use the hashtag #nmpol. The candidates twitter accounts are @clerkmaggie for Toulouse Oliver and @Nora4SOS for Espinoza.
Espinoza and Toulouse Oliver are running for the secretary of state whose office oversees voter registration and elections. Brad Winter currently is secretary of state, a position he has held since December following the resignation of Dianna Duran in connection to embezzlement and misusing campaign funds to cover spending costs at casinos. Winter, a Republican, is also an Albuquerque city councilor.
Nash Cunningham’s class focuses on teaching students multimedia journalism. During the town hall, students will break into groups. Some will check facts. Others will pose follow up questions. Students will also post a recap of the town hall with the candidates’ answers on The New Mexico News Port’s website.
Toulouse Oliver said she is excited to participate in the town hall and to speak about, “transparency and accountability in government.”
“I really appreciate young people getting involved in politics and this is a great way to promote participation in elections,” she said in a statement to the Journal.
An email to Espinoza’s campaign wasn’t immediately returned on Tuesday afternoon.
