{"id":6181,"date":"2009-09-15T14:35:12","date_gmt":"2009-09-15T20:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=6181"},"modified":"2009-09-15T14:54:26","modified_gmt":"2009-09-15T20:54:26","slug":"albuquerque%e2%80%99s-311-line-makes-absentee-voting-easier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/09\/albuquerque%e2%80%99s-311-line-makes-absentee-voting-easier\/","title":{"rendered":"Albuquerque\u2019s 311 line makes absentee voting easier"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo

Photo by cjc4454\/flickr.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Early voting is about to start in Albuquerque\u2019s Oct. 6 municipal election, but\u00a0 those who would rather vote absentee can cut a step out of the process by calling the city\u2019s 311 service.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because telephone operators who answer their calls complete the first of two forms required to get a ballot in the mail.<\/p>\n

The city operates under state municipal election laws that require one additional step compared to other elections. That means voters in the Duke City are required to complete both a absentee ballot application request form<\/a> <\/a>and an application for absentee ballot before receiving the actual ballot in the mail.<\/p>\n

City Clerk Randy Autio said that\u2019s the same process that has been used in the last three city elections.<\/p>\n

But voters who call 311 can skip one of those two steps. They must give their name, date of birth, e-mail address, telephone number and mailing address to the operator. After completing the call, the 311 operator routes the form to the city clerk\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

After processing, voters receive an application for an absentee ballot that has to be mailed back to the clerk\u2019s office before the actual ballot is mailed.<\/p>\n

NMPolitics.net tested the\u00a0 311 system\u00a0 Tuesday morning. The phone call took a little less than five minutes.<\/p>\n

The clerk\u2019s office is processing about 1,000 requests for absentee ballots everyday, and staffers had to work over the weekend to clear a backlog of requests for applications. Autio said the office is currently caught up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears in this election season the absentees become popular with the campaigns in order to get the vote out — which is great, except that it puts a great strain on our office to respond quickly,\u201d Autio said. \u201cCampaigns are walking the neighborhoods and getting requests and bringing them in, so they\u2019re coming in all kinds of different forms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking the extra step<\/h3>\n

Mayoral candidate Richard Romero\u2019s<\/a> field director, Zach Mikelson, said the city absentee voting process is a \u201cmore cumbersome process than other elections\u201d because of the extra step. \u201c… but we haven\u2019t had any problems, and the clerk\u2019s office has been more than helpful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Romero\u2019s camp has a program to get supporters the mail-in ballots. Mikelson said they\u2019ve distributed more than 500 \u201cfriend and family\u201d packets, which include 20 individual forms for requesting absentee ballot applications.<\/p>\n

Mikelson said the campaign is receiving an average of 13 completed forms back for each package distributed.<\/p>\n

Joan Griffin, spokeswoman for Mayor Marty Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s<\/a> campaign, said the campaign sent an e-mail to supporters with an embedded link directing them to the request for absentee form posted online<\/a>. Additionally, at several recent forums, Ch\u00e1vez has instructed people to call the city\u2019s 311 number.<\/p>\n

Dana Feldman, who is managing state Rep. Richard \u201cRJ\u201d Berry\u2019s<\/a> campaign, said the campaign is \u201cdefinitely telling everyone that the (absentee voting) process is available.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now we are putting up locations of early voting sites on our Web site<\/a>,\u201d Feldman said.<\/p>\n

The city clerk\u2019s office began distributing absentee ballots Sept. 1. Completed applications have been accepted in the office since\u00a0 Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Early voting starts Wednesday<\/h3>\n

But absentee voting isn\u2019t the only way to vote before Oct. 6. Four early, in-person voting sites open on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Voters who show up at these locations<\/a> — the Albuquerque\/Bernalillo County Government Center, City of Albuquerque Records Center, APS City Center in ABQ Uptown and Ladera Plaza — must present photo identification to vote.<\/p>\n

Early voting runs Mondays-Fridays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. through Oct. 2.<\/p>\n

Earlier today, poll workers for all 168 precincts were attending one of six\u00a0 two-hour training sessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want all of them to understand all of the ins and outs of the election law, particularly the requirement for a voter photo ID that\u2019s new this year,\u201d Autio said. \u201cWe want all the voters to realize they are going to have to bring a photo ID. Any ID that has their name and photograph on it will do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upcoming candidate forums<\/h3>\n

Two mayoral candidates have confirmed their attendance at tonight\u2019s Juan Tabo Hills Neighborhood Association forum at the Manzano Multi-generation Center.\u00a0 Staffers for Berry and Romero confirmed those candidates will attend the one-hour meeting beginning at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

The association\u2019s Kevin Smith said Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s campaign manager, Mark Fleischer, told him the mayor committed to a private house party 45 days ago and will not be attending.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, all three candidates will be back together for an independent-media sponsored debate that begins at 7 p.m. in the Bank of America Theater at the National Hispanic Cultural Center<\/a>. Wednesday\u2019s event is sponsored by KNME-TV<\/a>, KUNM radio<\/a>, the New Mexico Independent<\/a> and The Weekly Alibi<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And on Sept. 23 at 9 p.m. the candidates will debate on live television. That debate is being sponsored by KOB TV 4 and will be simulcast statewide on radio via 770 KKOB — a radio station for which this reporter also works.<\/p>\n

By way of disclosure, St. Cyr is paid as a subcontractor through Griffin\u2019s firm on a contract to help promote the Town of Taos<\/a> that has nothing to do with the Albuquerque election.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Early voting is about to start in Albuquerque\u2019s Oct. 6 municipal election, but those who would rather vote absentee can cut a step out of the process by calling the city\u2019s 311 service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[139],"class_list":["post-6181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-albuquerque"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6181","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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}