Report on 12/2 Meeting of Democratic Party of Bernalillo County

From Patricia Lee:

Dear Friends,

Several of us attended the Bernalillo County Democrats meeting this evening and it was well worth the time.  Here's a quick, abbreviated rundown of what we discussed:

With respect to Ward/Precinct elections, the dates will be posted in the newspapers, available by E-news and/or you can telephone headquarters.  To sign up for e-news send an e-mail to DPBC@att.net and include your name, address and precinct number.  Being a Precinct Captain or Co-Captain or a Ward Chair or Ward Co-Chair is the best way you and I can affect the 2006 elections.  Now is the time to start.

The November 2 election and Disqualified Ballots was a major point on tonight's agenda and we had two motions made and passed (please note: I'm paraphrasing the language):

1. A motion to identify and notify Democratic voters in Bernalillo County whose provisional, absentee or "in lieu" ballots were disqualified within 3 months was made (by me), seconded and passed with all but one dissenting vote.
2. A motion to either re-register or in some way correct the problem (where it is within our power) that caused those voters' ballots to be disqualified within 6 months.

We discussed just how these ballots were disqualified.  Ultimately it was the Secretary of State's decision based on sections in the election law that names must match exactly, i.e. if a voter's registration read Mary J. Smith and their identification read Mary Josephine Smith the ballot was disqualified.

County Clerk Mary Herrera was to have attended. Unfortunately, one of her brothers passed away this afternoon and she was unable to be there.  Thus, Jeff Carbajal, Bureau of Elections Coordinator, attended and gave us a really good rundown on the whole process of counting the provisionals, etc.  For those of us who were able to participate even on a small scale in the counting process, it was a good opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the work involved.

SAVE THE DATE:  The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 16 at 6:00 p.m. at UNM School of Law, 1117 Stanford NE.  PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND.

Best,

Patricia

P.S.  Usually about 25 people attend these meetings; about 45 were there tonight!  Let's keep up the momentum.