Editor,
The Daily Lobo published an article on Oct. 7 regarding students, voter registration and the provisional balloting process in Bernalillo County and throughout the state. Unfortunately, the article cited some inaccurate information from a person who is not related to the election process in Bernalillo County. I am concerned that student voters who may have read the article might think twice about casting a ballot as a result.
I want to dispel the notion that newly registered voters' votes won't count and take the opportunity to encourage any student or member of the UNM community to cast their ballot either by voting early, by absentee or on Election Day.
The article alleges that Bernalillo County's as-yet-unprocessed voter registrations will not be processed in time to accommodate new voters, forcing them to vote a provisional ballot. This is completely inaccurate. There is a normal backlog of registrations that our office, and every county clerk's office, manages in anticipation of a major election. It will take our office several days to process the remaining applications that come in at the last minute. Because many voters have waited until the last minute to register, and as this process is important, it cannot be accomplished overnight. We anticipate having every registration processed by the time early voting begins at UNM on Oct. 18.
For any voter who is not yet in our system who wants to vote early at our clerk's office annex at 620 Lomas, (open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) a staff person at that location will contact our main office. The voter's card will be located and immediately entered into the system, allowing the voter to cast a ballot on the spot.
Unless a person did not register to vote by the Oct. 7 deadline, he or she will be eligible to and able to cast a ballot in this very important election.
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Voters can check the status of their registration by contacting my office at (505) 468-1291 or looking up their registration online at BernCo.gov/clerk or VoterView.state.nm.us.
Finally, I encourage the UNM community to take advantage of the early voting site at the SUB, which again will open for business Oct. 18 and will be open Tuesday through Friday from noon to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Nov. 1. Early voting is a fast, easy way to take part in what is sure to be a historic election.
Maggie Toulouse Oliver
Bernalillo County Clerk
