Recent turmoil in the Doña Ana County Clerk’s Office — including the resignation of one clerk and the appointment of a new one with no prior experience running elections — isn’t the reason the county is still tallying votes from Tuesday’s election, officials say.
Instead, says the new county clerk, Amanda López Askin, an unexpected surge in absentee voting is the reason. At least 7,885 absentee ballots were submitted in Doña Ana County this year, which is an approximately four-fold increase from recent elections.
Courtesy photo
Amanda López Askin
“We were just not expecting a quadrupling, literally, of absentee ballots,” López Askin said — and as a result the board charged with tallying those votes wasn’t sufficiently staffed to finish counting that many ballots on Election Day.
That board, with additional help added on Wednesday, is working to finalize the absentee count. How quickly it will complete its work isn’t clear.
“I know people want answers on election night. I know they want them as soon as they can get them, but I know they also want a fair election,” López Askin said. Her office is working to be transparent and methodical about the process so people can trust the results, she said.
Still, it’s difficult to ignore the recent turmoil in the clerk’s office given that Doña Ana is one of two counties statewide that hasn’t yet finished counting votes — and the delay leaves a nationally watched congressional race up in the air. The previous clerk, Scott Krahling, abruptly submitted his resignation on Aug. 29. The public later learned that Krahling’s “intimate relationship” with a previous chief deputy clerk, Rose Ann Vasquez, who resigned in March, had harmed staff morale and created a perception, at least, of favoritism.
The departures of Krahling and Vasquez left a leadership void in the office. Lindsey Bachman came on as the chief deputy clerk in May and was still relatively new to the job when Krahling resigned a few months later. And the county commission appointed López Askin — a former New Mexico State University regent who’d never worked on elections — to be county clerk on Sept. 11.
Through it all, some staffers have left the office, which currently has several vacancies. López Askin said many longtime poll workers also chose to not return for this election. So she and Bachman oversaw Tuesday’s election with fewer staffers and volunteers than needed.
“At the end of the day I have full confidence in the knowledge of our staff,” López Askin said. “I would, moving forward, like to have more them. And that’s something we’re making a plan for.”
Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver has “great confidence in the entire Doña Ana County Clerk team and is looking forward to working with them in the coming months and years,” said Alex Curtas, director of communications in the Secretary of State’s Office. He said the clerk’s office should be “commended for the diligence and professionalism with which they administered the election” through record-breaking turnout.
“Despite being short-staffed and having to contend with recent administrative changes to the office, County Clerk Amanda López Askin, her deputy Lindsey Bachman, and their entire staff performed yeoman’s work before and during the election, and are continuing that great work today as they tabulate Doña Ana County’s remaining absentee ballots,” Curtas said.