Democracy for New Mexico

You're Invited: Labor 2006 Early Vote Celebration This Saturday

UPDATE: Attorney General Patricia Madrid, running as the Dem candidate for Congress in NM-01, will speak at the rally.

The Labor 2006 Early Vote Celebration will be held on Saturday, October 21 at Noon at the Barelas Community Center and Park, 801 Barelas Rd SW, in Albuquerque. Click for map.

NM Federation of Labor leaders; Linda Chavez-Thompson, Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO; Laura Rico, Vice President of American Federation of Teachers; and John Gage, President, American Federation of Government Employees will speak. And you can join them in casting your early vote Saturday at a nearby polling place! (Early voting at alternate locations begins October 21st.) Free live music, mariachis, hot dogs, hamburgers and refreshments.

Take It Easy and Vote by Mail

The easiest way to vote in the November 7th election is to vote by mail, or what is otherwise known as voting via absentee ballot. You don't have to be absent or away to vote by mail. All you have to do is request a mail-in ballot by filling out a form and sending the request in to your county clerk, who will then send you a ballot to complete at home and mail back.

You can get the application for a mail-in ballot by contacting your county clerk or either the Madrid or Richardson campaigns. Some other local campaigns or Dem Party offices can also provide you with the application form. Easy ways to get your application:

Madrid for Congress Campaign:
https://www.madridforcongress.com/action/votefromhome
Or call the Main Office at 505-242-6000 or the South Valley Office at 505-452-2006.

Richardson for Governor Campaign:

Or call 505-828-BILL

Find contact info on your county clerk:
https://www.sos.state.nm.us/main/elections/Clerks.htm

25 Reasons to Vote Dem in November

According to 'Campaign 2006: The Issues, the Stakes, the Prospects' by Arthur Blaustein, an essay first published in Mother Jones, voting this November is incredibly important if you care about the future of our nation. Quote: "The choices are stark, the consequences are momentous, writes a public policy professor at UC Berkeley, who argues that the November elections will be the most significant in a generation."

As Professor Blaustein writes, the time is ripe for a referendum on Bush's failed policies:

Republicans running for the House and Senate in marginal districts and swing states have a problem. They’re just like Tony Blair, fatally weakened in Britain and derided in Europe as “Bush’s poodle” for rolling over for the U.S. president’s every policy demand. Republicans in Congress, however much they may try now to distance themselves from a deeply unpopular president, are in trouble for having stood on their hind legs and jumped through hoops every time the White House has fed them a new policy biscuit. Thus, the policies of George Bush and his administration are—and well should be—the defining issue of this campaign.

The professor lays out in detail the Bush political strategy, our political prospects, the issues and the foreign policy and national security implications of the November election and then lists out what is at stake:

25 reasons as to why this election is important and why you should get involved:

1. Iraq
2. Woman’s choice
3. Global warming
4. Public education
5. Civil liberties
6. Decent jobs at livable wages
7. Affordable housing
8. National health insurance
9. Torture and human rights abuse
10. Separation of church and state
11. Soaring federal deficits
12. The Supreme Court and federal judges
13. Increase in poverty and homelessness
14. Assault weapons back on the street
15. Social Security
16. Consumer protection
17. Huge national debt
18. Preemptive wars and national security
19. Mercury and acid rain
20. Disaster preparedness and Hurricane Katrina
21. Maldistribution of wealth
22. Resumption of nuclear testing
23. Homeland security—ports, mass transit and chemical plants
24. Renewable energy and gas prices
25. Pervasive corruption, cronyism, manipulation and incompetence

You could probably add a number of reasons of your own. What’s of paramount importance, though, is that the issues are basic, the choices are stark, the stakes are high and the consequences could be devastating.

So what kind of election-related volunteer work are you contributing? Contact a candidate's campaign office, an issue group or the Democratic Party and join the effort to turn things around. If we don't do it, who will?

Bernalillo County Early Voting Locations to Open 10/21

NOTE: This post is about the 2006 election. For information on early voting in the 2008 election, see this post.
**********

If you're registered, you can vote in person right now at your County Clerk's office and via absentee (mail-in) ballot. Call your County Clerk or any of the Democratic candidate's campaign offices for more information. See my earlier post for more on this. (If you aren't registered to vote, the deadline for doing so ended yesterday, October 10, 2006.)

Starting October 21st, you can also vote at alternate in-person locations as designated by your County Clerk. These are the locations where registered voters who reside in Bernalillo County can vote in person from October 21st through November 4th:

BERNALILLO COUNTY EARLY VOTING SITES GENERAL ELECTION 2006:

Clerk’s Office: One Civic Plaza, Room 6011

Rio Bravo Shopping Center: Rio Bravo/Isleta, 1698 Rio Bravo SW, Suite J

Sandia Vista Shopping Center: Menaul/Juan Tabo, 11500 Menaul Blvd. NE, Suite L

Glenrio Plaza: Glenrio/Coors NW, 851 Coors NW

APS City Center: Americas Parkway/Uptown, 6400 Uptown Blvd. NE

West Tower Conference Room: 5024 - 4th St. NW, North of 4th/Griegos, Suite B

Integrity Plaza: Wyoming/Constitution, 1500 Wyoming NE, Suite A

Parkland Plaza: Near Kathryn/San Mateo, 1118 San Mateo SE

Los Vecinos Community Center: 478 ½ Old Hwy 66, Tijeras, NM

Plaza Ladera: Coors/Sequoia NW, 5300 Sequoia NW, Suite G

900 - 4th St. SW: 4th/Atlantic, Suite B

Academy Office Park: Academy/Truchas, 6739 Academy NE, Suite 252

Los Ranchos Villa: 4th/Osuna, 6601 - 4th St. NW, Suite R

EARLY  VOTING HOURS OF OPERATION:

Clerk’s Office Downtown:
Tuesday, October 10 thru Friday, October 13: 8 am-5 pm
Monday October 16 thru Friday, October 20: 8 am-5 pm
Monday October 23 thru Friday, October 27: 8 am-5 pm
Monday October 30 thru Friday, November 3: 8 am-5 pm
Saturday, November 4: 10 am-6 pm

All Other Sites begin on October 21:
Saturday, October 21: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Tuesday, October 24 thru Friday, October 27: Noon - 8:00 pm
Saturday, October 28: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Tuesday, October 31 thru Friday, November 3: Noon - 8:00 pm
Saturday, November 4: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Source: Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office 10/10/06

For info on early voting sites in other counties, contact your County Clerk. You can find contact information for them here.

Congregation Albert Hosts Brotherhood Brunch & Discussion on Ethics Reform 10/15

From the Congregation Albert Bulletin:

Congregation Albert Brotherhood Brunch
Sunday, October 15, 10 AM, Social Hall
3800 Louisiana NE, Albuquerque 87110
Panel Discussion: Public Corruption and Ethics Reform
Drew McCandless, Special Agent, FBI; Matt Brix, Director, Common Cause New Mexico; Brad Winter, President, Albuquerque City Council.

We are beset almost daily with reports of public corruption that seem to result from New Mexico’s long standing tradition of patronage politics. The Albuquerque Journal reports that New Mexico is one of only five states with no limit on campaign contributions. Giving gifts to New Mexico’s public officials is not banned or limited, which creates the potential for conflicts of interest. Clearly there is a need for public ethics reform at all levels of statewide government and within our public institutions.

Join us on October 15 to discuss this topic with Drew McCandless, Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Matt Brix, Director of Common Cause New Mexico and Brad Winter, President of the Albuquerque City Council.

The cost is $8 for Brotherhood and Sisterhood members and $11 for others, including the general public. Please reserve by October 12 by calling 883-1818, ext. 3203, and leaving your name, phone number, and the number of reservations.

(Editor's Note: Thanks to Michelle Meaders for sending this along, as she does with info on so many other excellent events.)

LAST CHANCE: Register to Vote!

I'll remind everyone again: If you want to vote in the November 7th election, you need to be registered by 5:00 PM TOMORROW, October 10th. You can register at your County Clerk's office. Several Democratic campaign offices are also registering voters and will take your completed form to the Clerk's office for you:

Bill Richardson for Governor 2006
111 Lomas Blvd. NW, Suite 120
Albuquerque, NM 87102
PHONE: 505-828-BILL
Click for info on other Richardson campaign offices around the state

Patricia Madrid for Congress
Main Office: 200 Oak St. NE #4
Albuquerque, NM 87106
PHONE: 505-242-6000

South Valley Office: 1220 Isleta Blvd. SW
Albuquerque, NM 87105
PHONE: 505-452-2006

Other campaigns may also be registering voters, but these are the two that I know for sure are doing so. You can find more info on voting at my previous post.

LAST DAY TO REGISTER TO VOTE: Tuesday, October 10

NOTE: This post was for the 2006 election. For information related to registering for the November 4, 2008 presidential election, click here and here.

************

Register to Vote: If you plan to vote in the November 7th general election, you must be registered to vote by Tuesday, October 10th at 5:00 PM. You can call the Patricia Madrid campaign at 242-6000 (Albuquerque) if you need to get registered, or call your County Clerk directly to get more info or confirm that you are registered (see County Clerk info below).

Note: If you've moved since you last registered, you need to contact the County Clerk to change your address. Also, if you never received your voter registration ID from the County Clerk, you need to call and find out why because you may be listed as an "inactive voter" on the rolls. NOW is the time to get things straightened out to avoid possible hassles at the polls.

MORE GENERAL ELECTION INFORMATION:

Early In-Person Voting: Starts Tuesday, October 10th at your County Clerk's office and continues through November 4th.

Early Alternate Location Voting: Starts October 21st in most counties and continues through November 4th. These sites are in addition to early voting at your County Clerk's office. According to the NM Secretary of State, "Absentee-early in-person voting may be done in person on an electronic voting machine at the alternate sites from 12:00 PM until 8:00 PM on Tuesday through Friday and 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM Saturday until the Saturday before the election." The locations of these sites will be released soon by your County Clerk.

Absentee (Mail-In) Voting: This is ongoing and November 3rd is the last day to request an absentee ballot from your County Clerk.

General Election Day: On November 7th you can vote at the polling place designated for your precinct. The polls will be open from 7 AM to 7 PM all over New Mexico.

COUNTY CLERK CONTACT INFO:

Bernalillo County: Find out where to vote at the or call 768-4085 for information on any aspect of registering or voting.

Other Counties:
Dona Ana: 647-7428
Los Alamos: 662-8010
Sandoval: 867-7572
Santa Fe: 986-6280
Socorro: 835-0423
Taos: 737-6380
Torrance: 384-2221
Valencia: 866-2073

Click for a listing of contact info for all County Clerks in NM.

CANDIDATES & BALLOTS: The NM Secretary of State's website has listings of:

• District candidates
• Statewide candidates
• Proposed NM Constitutional Amendments (with arguments pro and con)
• General Ballot GO Bonds

Your County Clerk's office has information on other races in your county to be voted upon November 7th.

Another excellent source is the League of Women Voters of NM, which includes their trusty Voters Guide. You can find links to LWV chapters in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Los Alamos and Santa Fe by clicking here.

NM Election Activists Urge Audit of Electronic Vote Counting in November Election

From UnitedVotersNM and VerifiedVotingNM:
Reform activists are calling on the top state election official to undertake hand-counted audits of paper ballots as a check on electronic vote counting accuracy in the November general election. Paul Stokes of United Voters of New Mexico (UVNM) and John W. Boyd, an election law specialist with an Albuquerque firm, have urged Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron to advance the implementation of the mandatory voting machine audit that was approved by the state legislature but not scheduled to go into effect until January lst.

In a letter to Secretary Vigil-Giron, Boyd and Stokes wrote, “We believe that random audits of ‘paper trails’ and/or paper ballots are a key element of any election. Without a random audit, any election results will be of doubtful accuracy and integrity…In the public interest, we ask that you do the right thing and take the trouble to conduct a proper, random audit of the results of this November’s election. You will be a hero to thousands of New Mexicans.”

The letter pointed out that a large body of evidence indicates computer-based voting machines make errors and can be manipulated to falsify election results. These errors and manipulations often can only be detected by manual inspection and auditing of the paper ballots themselves. The state legislature, the letter added, has given its support to Governor Richardson’s initiative to use paper ballots counted by optical scanning machines in the election next month. This will provide an amplified paper audit trail that can be hand counted to check scanning machine accuracy. It will also reduce reliance on  electronic touch screen and push button machines whose vote counting cannot be confirmed for lack of a paper trail.

VerifiedVotingNM, which with UVNM forms a coalition of organizations and individuals concerned with strengthening vote count accuracy, also supports the audit request. Said Charlie Strauss, member of the VVNM steering committee, “We want this audit enshrined right from the outset as part of the process. The intent of the law was to have the introduction of audits coincide with the introduction of paper ballots. If paper ballots are being implemented early, so should the manual paper ballot audit.” 

Boyd is with Freedman Boyd Daniels Hollander Goldberg and Ives, which, after the 2004 general election and along with Voter Action, filed suit on behalf of New Mexico voters to end use of electronic voting machines that do not provide a voter-verifiable and auditable paper trail. Boyd was also lead lawyer in the suit that won a supreme court decision in May invalidating a 2005 law which required candidates to pay the full cost of a recount up front.

UnitedVotersNM
PO Box 218, Corrales NM 87048, 898-1237                              
VerifiedVotingNM
329 Sena St., Santa Fe NM 87505, 988-3718
A coalition of organizations and individuals concerned with strengthening accuracy in vote counting, auditing and recounting. For more information contact: Paul Stokes, UVNM, 898-1237, Charlie Strauss, VVNM, 663-0716

ACTION ALERT: Help Needed NOW on Returned Voter Registration Cards

From Terry Riley:
A couple of weeks ago I saw a news report on Channel 13 where Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Hererra claimed that 200,000+ voter ID cards had been returned as undeliverable.  In that same report Secretary of State Vigil-Giron stated that those voters would be purged from the voter list.  The New Mexico voter list is something over 1,100,000 if I am correct. That is close to one-fourth of all of the registered voters in New Mexico whose cards were returned. I know that the news always reports that a very low percentage of the eligible voters actually vote but some of these 200,000 voter IDs must belong to otherwise eligible voters. 

Paul Stokes and I contacted Mary Hererra and Ernie Marquez, Director of Elections in the Secretary of State's office and asked for confirmation of the story. Everything was accurate EXCEPT that the voters would not be purged. They would be marked inactive and if they fail to vote in the next two elections then they will be purged. That was good until he said, most likely! I asked for clarification and it ended with probably.

To shorten this story I will say that the best possible things are being done to solve this potential problem. The Secretary of State is running public service announcements on TV explaining that if you did not receive your plastic voter ID card that there may be some problem with your voter registration and that you should contact your county clerk as soon as possible and correct any errors.  The Republican Party and the Democratic Party have both asked for and received copies of this list. Governor Richardson's campaign is calling all Democrats on that list and notifying them that they need to check with their county clerk as well as adding this list to their state wide walk list.

HELP!
Now that we have support on contacting the people whose voter ID cards were returned we have been asked to help. I guess that is reasonable. I know that many people are volunteering at different campaigns to help candidates get their message out.

We need people to volunteer to Ana Canales at Governor Richardson's campaign to call people who were affected by the returned voter ID cards. This is really important and it is important that it is done ASAP, because the deadline for new registration is 10 October. The Governor's campaign phone number is 828-2455. Please call and PLEASE VOLUNTEER!

Terry Riley

Editor's note: If you'd like to submit a guest post for possible publication on DFNM, please contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper left-hand corner of the blog's main page.

Video: How to Vote in NM in November Election

This is a guest blog by Michelle Meaders:
I just discovered that there is a video on the Bernalillo County Clerk's website showing how to use the new paper ballot machines. To see the video, look at the bottom of the right-hand column on the and click on the title: How to Vote for the Nov. Election: video

We will be using paper ballots for both Early and Election Day voting this year. They have been used for Absentee ballots for years, but Absentee voters don't get to try again if their ballot is mis-marked (or if they don't do everything right in getting their ballot and packaging it to return it). You can find out if your absentee ballot was counted, but by then it's too late to do anything about it. There is a new law this year that lets absentee voters take their ballot to their polling place on election day, if they forget to return it in time.

Certain disabled voters will instead use the Automark, a special machine that generates a filled-out paper ballot which is counted like the others.  You can read about that here.

I spoke with staff at the County Clerk's office and learned other useful information on voting:

• If you take your absentee ballot to the polls, it goes in with the other absentee ballots and doesn't get opened and counted at your polling place.
• If you lose your absentee ballot and/or want to vote in person at the polls after all, you must use a Provisional Ballot at the polls. Provisional Ballots are also counted later, so you don't get the advantage of being able to re-vote if you make a mistake, like you do in person.
• If you make a mistake in marking your ballot (such as voting for more than one candidate in a race) and don't have a chance to replace it, the rest of your ballot is hand-tabulated, so the rest of your votes aren't lost. This covers Absentee, Provisional, and possible tabulating machine problems or power failures at the polls.
• I was concerned about some people not being able to read the print on the ballot, or not being very good readers, or not having a steady hand to mark the lines on the ballot. They told me anyone can ask to use the AutoMark machines, where the ballot is read to you through headphones with a volume control.  However, they said a genuinely handicapped person can bump a not-so-handicapped one from the line.