Ellins and his staff ran a good election

I want to make a point of congratulating the staff of the Doña Ana County Bureau of Elections for a job well done.

Yes, we had a few problems, but no one ever said there would be none. All that was promised by Elections Supervisor Lynn Ellins was that he and his staff would try to anticipate problems and respond as quickly as possible.

They did. I personally observed the responses to many problems, and staffers were competent, timely and comprehensive in coming up with solutions.

Even better than that, there were far fewer problems than there were with past elections in this county. The number of provisional ballots is significantly lower than in past elections.

We also had fewer problems than other counties. Bernalillo County ran out of ballots at two precincts. It also had its machines calibrated improperly for a time, meaning a high number of ballots were spit out and had to be counted by hand.

To top off the list of praises in this county, there were no partisan politics. Many Republicans, who had been griping for years about the way they were being treated by the office of a Democratic clerk, had lots of praise for elections staffers. Democrats I spoke with on election night also believed they were treated fairly.

Kudos not only to Ellins, but to all of the staff members, poll workers and volunteers who made this election a success in Doña Ana County.