{"id":633,"date":"2006-09-27T14:55:00","date_gmt":"2006-09-27T20:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/09\/county-elections-bureau-improving-ellins-says\/"},"modified":"2006-09-27T14:55:00","modified_gmt":"2006-09-27T20:55:00","slug":"county-elections-bureau-improving-ellins-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/09\/county-elections-bureau-improving-ellins-says\/","title":{"rendered":"County elections bureau improving, Ellins says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>\u2019s interim elections supervisor says he has already implemented many changes suggested in the report<\/a> released Tuesday by the election task force, and morale and operations of the office have improved. <\/p>\n

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

The task force found that, in recent years, the office has suffered form high turnover, low morale and a lack of organizational cohesion, which has resulted in a myriad of problems. The report recommends the hiring of a qualified elections supervisor, revision of the office\u2019s organizational structure and the creation of training programs to ensure compliance with state statutes and consistent training of poll workers.<\/p>\n

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

Lynn Ellins said in the few weeks he has been elections supervisor, much of that has been done. Some staff reorganization has already taken place. He is conducting employee evaluations, which has not been done in at least a year. Nine people have been appointed to form a team of poll-worker trainers, and are also developing a program for long-term training of workers to ensure it\u2019s done right in the future.<\/p>\n

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

Ellins said he meets with Democrats and Republicans frequently, and with Clerk Rita Torres two or three times each day, which was not being done before.<\/p>\n

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

Ellins was able to implement many of the changes weeks ago because he also served on the elections task force and was one of nine who investigated the problems. He said his management of the office is one of the most important changes.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cOne of the major things is I\u2019m listening to suggestions from people and I\u2019m implementing them when it makes sense,\u201d Ellins said. \u201cThey\u2019re very skilled and proficient. \u2026 What I\u2019ve been trying to do is give them some positive suggestions, some positive feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

That has resulted in improved morale, and Ellins said the elections bureau staff is now \u201cworking as a unit\u201d instead of different people \u201cgoing different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

That will help when Ellins leaves. He has agreed to run the Nov. 7 general election, but after that wraps up he\u2019ll leave the office and Torres will have to hire a new elections supervisor.<\/p>\n

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

November won\u2019t be without problems, Ellins said. That\u2019s in part due to the state-mandated switch to paper ballots, which is taking place at the same time that the county\u2019s office is being recreated by Ellins and the task force.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cSure we\u2019re going to make some mistakes. It\u2019s inevitable,\u201d Ellins said. \u201cBut at least we\u2019re going to anticipate the problem areas so we\u2019re prepared, and if we make a mistake, we can correct it immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Officials with both major political parties have said they expect fewer problems than in past elections.<\/p>\n

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

Training poll workers is the biggest challenge, Ellins said. It was perhaps the most problematic aspect of operations identified by the task force. In addition, this year poll workers have to learn two new machines \u2013 the machine that tabulates paper ballots filled out at each precinct, and a machine for those with handicaps that Ellins described as a \u201c$5,000 pencil.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Public education about the new system has already begun, and feedback was positive at last weekend\u2019s Whole Enchilada Fiesta, Ellins said. Workers will also be at the Southern New Mexico State Fair this weekend demonstrating the new voting system.<\/p>\n

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

Ellins said it\u2019s not that complicated. Voters will be given a ballot that looks like a school scantron sheet. Using a pencil, they\u2019ll have to fill in the circles corresponding with the candidates they choose \u2013 the entire circle, not just a part \u2013 then feed the ballot into a machine that counts votes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do\u00f1a Ana County\u2019s interim elections supervisor says he has already implemented many changes suggested in the report released Tuesday by the election task force, and morale and operations of the office have improved. The task force found that, in recent years, the office has suffered form high turnover, low morale and a lack of organizational […]<\/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-633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633","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=633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}