And that's before the county clerks in those counties and 8 others began sending out absentee ballot applications to all registered voters Monday. Voters who have requested absentees will have them sent to them beginning October 6.
A national nonprofit--the Center for Voter Information--blanketed the state in August with absentee applications, helping to explain the already high number of requests.
One intriguing question: will all of this activity mean more votes than normal will be cast well before the Nov. 3 Election Day? Surely more than normal will be, but political pros like veteran Dem consultant Mark Fleisher say voters tend to wait until the final days to vote. That's backed up by the Secretary of State in the state of Washington where all-mail elections have been the norm for a decade:
. . . Sixty per cent of our ballots came in election week. . .You’re getting inundated right at the last minute, and I think that you’re going to see that trend across the country. I’d like to think voters are going to vote early and be really good and helpful on this front, but I’ve done this too long. . . I think you’re going to see election offices across the country swamped by that late surge of mail-in ballots, and it doesn’t matter how good you are. King County elections, where Seattle is, is one of the most efficient and well-run, and I can tell you that the volume still slows down their processing. It’s just the nature of people waiting until the last minute to vote.
New Mexico has bought itself some insurance to protect against a late wave of absentees that would overwhelm the clerks or not reach them because of mail issues. Secretary of State Toulouse Oliver says the deadline for mailing an absentee ballot has been moved up to October 27. However, voters can still drop them off at special drop boxes set up by the clerks or at the polls until 7 p.m. November 3. Clerks here are also allowed to begin processing absentee ballots well before Election Day.
Still, we have had recent absentee problems. Dona Ana County was overwhelmed by absentees and could not get them counted for days in the Nov. '18 election. In this year's June primary the Santa Fe County Clerk was unable to complete the absentee count Election Night and it also dragged on. Bernalillo County stopped counting absentees at 11 p.m. primary night because of an exhausted crew, although unlike Dona Ana and Santa Fe no major races were still unresolved.
The ten counties that are sending absentee ballot applications to all registered voters include the most populated ones of Bernalillo, Dona Ana and Santa Fe plus Sandoval, Colfax, Grant, Valencia, Los Alamos, Guadalupe and San Miguel counties.
As for overall turnout in the election, that too could reach historic highs because voting is being made easier by that absentee push. That could favor the Dems who outnumber the R's 45.6 percent to 30.9 percent. As of August there were about 1.311 million registered voters in the state. Pros expect at least 800,000 votes to be cast in the presidential election--and probably more--surpassing the 779,000 from 2016.
END OF THE ALIBI
The ABQ alternative newspaper Weekly Alibi has ended a nearly thirty year run. A deal being pursued by ABQ Dem City Councilor Pat Davis to purchase the struggling weekly has fallen through. He says:As you know, I was working to purchase the Alibi and keep it running under that name. Unfortunately, circumstances beyond our control prevented the sale at close and the Alibi has published its last edition. For those (like us!) who believe Albuquerque needs a strong alternative news source, don't despair. Many of the former contributors and key staff alt-weekly readers know and love have joined our team. We're launching a new weekly in early October - stay tuned!
THE BOTTOM LINES
Reader Dave Matthews gets sarcastic about a recent entry from a Senior Alligator of the Dem variety describing one of the state House races:
“Dem Rep. Abbas Akhil, who defeated incumbent Jim Dines in '18 by only 115 votes to serve as the state's first Muslim-American legislator. . . "
Muslim-American?? I guess that means I’m a Christian-American! Or maybe a Lutheran-New Mexican. What’s next? Agnostic-Democrat? Buddhist-Republican? The identity politics has gotten way out of hand. Sincerely, Dave Mathews, Duffer-Northeast Heightsian.
During these times of turmoil we welcome your thoughts, comments and general existential angst.
This is the home of New Mexico politics.
E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com)
Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020