{"id":14390,"date":"2010-03-12T11:03:12","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T18:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=14390"},"modified":"2010-03-13T18:17:54","modified_gmt":"2010-03-14T01:17:54","slug":"county-clerks-are-%e2%80%98well-prepared%e2%80%99-for-june-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/03\/county-clerks-are-%e2%80%98well-prepared%e2%80%99-for-june-primary\/","title":{"rendered":"County clerks are \u2018well prepared\u2019 for June primary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Secretary of State Mary Herrera<\/p><\/div>\n

Allegations against Mary Herrera probably won\u2019t affect the integrity of the election because clerks handle the nuts and bolts, many say<\/h4>\n

County clerks handle the nuts and bolts of elections, so a former state elections director\u2019s allegations of unethical behavior by Secretary of State Mary Herrera<\/a> probably won\u2019t affect the integrity of the upcoming June primary, several clerks and others say.<\/p>\n

Still, some point out that there are a few areas in which the secretary of state directly impacts elections.<\/p>\n

The assertion that the election will have integrity despite any problems in the Secretary of State\u2019s Office comes from a number of county clerks and others interviewed for this article. That includes A.J. Salazar, the former state elections director who alleged two weeks ago in his resignation letter<\/a> that Herrera is violating the Governmental Conduct Act<\/a> and elections law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe county clerks are incredibly well prepared and equipped, and very professional in my opinion,\u201d Salazar said. \u201cI don\u2019t think the public has anything to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a Ana County Clerk Lynn Ellins<\/a> agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe county clerks really run the election as a practical matter,\u201d he said. \u201cWe count the votes, we hire the poll workers, we run the polling places, so even if all of these allegations or a significant number of them are true, I see it having very little impact on the actual operation of the election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellins cautioned that he wasn\u2019t saying any or all of the allegations brought by Salazar are true \u2013 he\u2019s simply saying that, even \u201cin the worst scenario possible, we can still run the election.\u201d He said he has focused on trying to restore the public\u2019s faith in the election process, and he hopes \u201cthat this particular scenario doesn\u2019t turn people into cynics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allegations are \u2018serious and must be investigated\u2019<\/h3>\n

State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a>, R-Albuquerque and a member of the House Voters and Elections Committee, said Ellins is largely correct, but she still has some concerns. She pointed out that Herrera writes the rules by which clerks must operate.<\/p>\n

And if a clerk has problems, the secretary of state might step in to take a more direct role in that county.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some places that could fall down, could make it really uncomfortable,\u201d the Republican gubernatorial candidate said.<\/p>\n

Arnold-Jones added that she believes Salazar\u2019s allegations are true, and she suspects that many of the problems in the Secretary of State\u2019s Office are due to incompetence.<\/p>\n

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a>, the Democrats\u2019 candidate for governor, said Salazar\u2019s allegations are \u201cserious and must be investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public deserves to have full confidence in our state\u2019s election process and its officials,\u201d Denish said.<\/p>\n

The Attorney General\u2019s Office is looking into the situation, though it\u2019s not clear whether it\u2019s conducting a full-scale investigation. The AG generally doesn\u2019t comment on ongoing investigations.<\/p>\n

Among Salazar\u2019s allegations is that Herrera ordered exempt employees to collect signatures for her re-election bid at a meeting held during work hours, that she was improperly soliciting donations from contractors doing business with the office to help fund a training, and that she retaliated against him after he tried to stop those potentially illegal actions.<\/p>\n

The integrity of voting machines<\/h3>\n

In an interview, Salazar also raised concern about a number of voting machines \u201cbeing stored currently without a contract\u201d at a private facility in Rio Rancho. He said only the company that is storing the machines and Deputy Secretary of State Don Francisco Trujillo<\/a> \u2013 who he has accused of being part of the \u201ccorruption\u201d in the Secretary of State\u2019s Office \u2013 have any information about \u201cthe full accounting and inventory of those machines.\u201d<\/p>\n

The number of machines kept at the facility in Rio Rancho isn\u2019t clear, but as Ellins pointed out, the vast majority of voting machines in New Mexico are stored by the county clerks, who are responsible for their security.<\/p>\n

Some of the machines that are stored at the Rio Rancho facility were loaned to municipalities for elections, though Salazar said there was no designated chain of custody for the machines \u2013 which he said creates a potential for abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern was for chain of custody and the security and integrity of those machines,\u201d Salazar said, adding that \u201conly the deputy secretary \u2013 and, I would hope, the secretary \u2013 would know\u201d why the machines are being stored without a contract.<\/p>\n

Herrera, Trujillo and the secretary of state\u2019s spokesman, James Flores, have not responded to an e-mail seeking comment for this article.<\/p>\n

Clerks have become accustomed to having little help<\/h3>\n

Though Arnold-Jones raised areas of concern, she said Ellins is largely correct that clerks run the elections. In most counties, she said, there\u2019s little potential for problems in the Secretary of State\u2019s Office to affect things.<\/p>\n

But in addition to promulgating rules and stepping in when clerks need help, Arnold-Jones said Herrera\u2019s office has to validate computer databases. And the elections director decides how to interpret the state elections code when disputes arise.<\/p>\n

Arnold-Jones also noted that Herrera has yet to replace Salazar.<\/p>\n

But Denise Lamb, Santa Fe County\u2019s elections director and a former state elections director, pointed out that there was no state elections director during the last primary election. And while she found Salazar, who had been in the job for 11 months when he resigned, to be \u201cprofessional and helpful,\u201d he was authorized to do very little without the approval of Trujillo.<\/p>\n

Her point: Clerks have gotten used to running elections without help from Herrera\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver<\/a> said her office will be fine regardless of whether Herrera hires an elections director before the June primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to do anything different in terms of this election, if there\u2019s an elections administrator there or not. It would be great to have someone in that role who understands not only the election code but the law,\u201d she said. \u201cBut if there\u2019s not somebody, then we\u2019re just going to put our noses to the grindstone. And if there are questions that come up, we\u2019ll just have to deal with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I would like to see things turn around\u2019<\/h3>\n

Last year, Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinosa<\/a> considered challenging Herrera<\/a> in this year\u2019s Democratic primary. At the time, she raised a number of concerns about the way Herrera is running the Secretary of State\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, however, Espinosa wouldn\u2019t go into specifics about the allegations made by Salazar, though she did back up some of the statements made by Arnold-Jones about areas in which the secretary of state can directly impact elections.<\/p>\n

Espinosa, who ultimately decided not to run against Herrera, did say that Salazar\u2019s allegations should be \u201cinvestigated properly\u201d and \u201cshould not be taken lightly.\u201d And she spoke highly of Salazar.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did nothing but try to work with the clerks,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is not to come to anybody\u2019s defense: It\u2019s a fact that he worked with us and we had his ear. \u2026 He was always very cordial and professional when we had our meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he just tried to do a good job,\u201d Espinosa said. \u201cThat was what I saw.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salazar said he\u2019s simply hoping for change in the Secretary of State\u2019s Office. Now that he has turned his allegations over to the AG, he said he\u2019s prepared to \u201clet the system take its course.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to see things turn around,\u201d Salazar said. \u201c\u2026 I would hope that changes would be made in light of these issues, because they need to be made.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

County clerks handle the nuts and bolts of elections, so a former state elections director\u2019s allegations of unethical behavior by Secretary of State Mary Herrera probably won\u2019t affect the integrity of the upcoming June primary, many say. Still, some point out that there are a few areas in which the secretary of state directly impacts elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[108,169,107],"class_list":["post-14390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-2010-election","tag-mary-herrera","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}