{"id":3940,"date":"2008-11-04T13:32:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-04T19:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/11\/absentee-ballot-snafu-how-many-wont-get-to-vote\/"},"modified":"2008-11-04T13:32:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-04T19:32:00","slug":"absentee-ballot-snafu-how-many-wont-get-to-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/11\/absentee-ballot-snafu-how-many-wont-get-to-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Absentee ballot snafu: How many won’t get to vote?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> says Monday statement was erroneous; thousands of absentee ballots are outstanding<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This article has been updated.<\/p>\n

Despite what Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> said on Monday, nearly 4,000 absentee ballots haven\u2019t been returned to the Bureau of Elections<\/a>. At this point, it\u2019s certain some people who tried to vote won\u2019t be able to do it. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

How many people is the question. And that has some worrying that the people who don\u2019t get to vote could be the difference in a close race.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHere we are at the very place we hoped and prayed we would not be,\u201d said Mark Van Dyke, chairman of the Republican Party of Do\u00f1a Ana County. \u201cHere we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The county says a \u201cclerical error\u201d was to blame for a Monday news release stating that 633 people<\/a> who requested absentee ballots had not yet voted. In reality, the county said today, the number is 3,844.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The county now says 11,985 absentee ballots were requested and, as of this morning, 8,141 of the people who requested ballots had voted either absentee or in person during early voting.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe two words you don\u2019t want to hear from your Bureau of Elections on Election Day are \u2018clerical error.\u2019 And I\u2019m not trying to be glib about that, because I\u2019m really frustrated,\u201d Van Dyke said. \u201cAt this late date, that\u2019s a lot to have out.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s certain that many of those ballots will be returned today. Mario Jimenez, acting supervisor of elections, said another 300 had been hand-delivered this morning and he expects many more to arrive today. He also believes many people who haven\u2019t received their ballots will vote in person at their polling places today.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But those who aren\u2019t in the military and live elsewhere in the United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> have no alternate voting option if they didn\u2019t receive their ballot. That\u2019s one of many facts that creates a certainty that at least some of the people who requested absentee ballots but haven\u2019t received them won\u2019t get to vote today. The questions now are how many people who requested absentee ballots but haven\u2019t received them won\u2019t vote, and whether the number will be large enough to affect the outcomes of any races.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There has been widespread concern about absentee ballots in Do\u00f1a Ana County<\/a> since it was learned on Friday that the county didn\u2019t comply with a law requiring that absentee ballots be mailed out within 24 hours of the office receiving requests for the ballots. Some Republicans charged that 3,000 to 5,000 ballots weren\u2019t mailed out until Friday and that thousands of voters might be disenfranchised. The county maintained that those numbers were exaggerated and the problem was much less severe.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Alternate ways to vote<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The county has worked, along with other groups, to emphasize alternate ways to vote for those who hadn\u2019t received their absentee ballots, and that remains the case today.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Carter Bundy, a member of the nonpartisan group Election Protection representing the New Mexico Federation of Labor, urged people who have requested but not received absentee ballots to head to their polling place, where they will be able to vote in person. Those who receive their ballots today can fill them out and hand-deliver them to the clerk\u2019s office or their polling place before the polls close, or they can choose to instead vote in person at their polling place.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing now is to mitigate the damage as much as possible and to make sure as many people vote as can,\u201d said Bundy, who by way of disclosure is also a columnist for this site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Brian Col\u00f3n, chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, said the same thing.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s critical voters know that if they have not received their absentee ballot, they can still vote today until 7 p.m. at their polling location,\u201d he said. \u201cIf voters have received their ballots, they have until 7 p.m. tonight to drop them off at their polling location or their county clerk\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n said those with questions can contact the Democratic Party at (877) NM-CHANGE or nm.voteforchange.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In addition, military personnel stationed anywhere and any registered voter in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> who is overseas can request that a ballot be sent to them today via e-mail or fax by calling (575) 647-7428. They\u2019ll be able to return the ballot today using the same method by which they received it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

How many?<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Van Dyke said he\u2019s focused today on urging those who haven\u2019t received absentee ballots to vote in person. But he\u2019s also thinking about how many can\u2019t or won\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cEven if it\u2019s one in four, you\u2019re looking at almost 1,000 voters,\u201d Van Dyke said. \u201cBesides disenfranchisement, which appalls me\u2026 this is 1,000 votes, which in this county, could very well be the margin in just about every race. It\u2019s not inconceivable that the presidential race could be within 1,000 votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Van Dyke added that the staffers in the Bureau of Elections \u201care working with the same tremendous effort and integrity that they always do.\u201d However, he said, \u201cmanagement really drives the bus, and they drove off without a few voters this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Several Democratic and Republican campaigns said they are watching the situation closely, but didn\u2019t comment further.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 5:50 p.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to listen to my interview with KRWG-FM\u2019s Evan Woodward about this.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do\u00f1a Ana County says Monday statement was erroneous; thousands of absentee ballots are outstanding This article has been updated. Despite what Do\u00f1a Ana County said on Monday, nearly 4,000 absentee ballots haven\u2019t been returned to the Bureau of Elections. At this point, it\u2019s certain some people who tried to vote won\u2019t be able to do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940","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=3940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}