Serving the High Plains

Report: Voter confidence falters

A recent report by the University of New Mexico weighed in on ways to improve faltering voter confidence after surveying the attitudes and concerns of residents after the turbulent 2020 general election.

Quay County's clerk, a veteran of about 20 years of local elections, also provided several suggestions for the state's election agency and lawmakers.

The UNM's Department of Political Science and Secretary of State presented a report last week on the 2020 election. Lonna Rae Atkeson and Wendy Hansen wrote it with assistance from the New Mexico Secretary of State's Office using federal funds. The report can be read or downloaded from tinyurl.com/ymtk589u.

A few takeaways:

• Just 41% of New Mexico residents surveyed after the 2020 election said they felt very confident in the results of the race between Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Republican incumbent Donald Trump. However, 70% expressed confidence in state election results.

• 70% said they believe it's possible someone could find out who they voted for.

• 35% cast ballots by mail in 2020, an increase of 25 percentage points from the previous election. Democrats were more likely to vote by mail by a 2-to-1 margin.

• 94% said poll workers were helpful. Those who encountered helpful workers were much more confident in the election results.

• 77% said they believe voters should show some form of photo ID when casting a ballot.

Quay County Clerk Ellen White stated in an email she believed confidence in local elections was high, but not so much at the national level.

"I will tell you, I believe the people in Quay County, for the most part, have every bit of confidence in the elections conducted in Quay County," she wrote.

"I believe the news and bad information spread at a Federal and State level leads to uncertainty. I encourage people, who have legitimate concerns, to always contact my office for answers. I would also implore people to attend the Election Worker Trainings, Voting Machine Certifications, become a Poll Official, and learn how elections work."

White also weighed in on election bills being considered by the New Mexico Legislature during its 30-day session.

Regarding Senate Bill 6, White wrote there were key points she supported:

• Stopping third-party groups from mailing absentee ballot applications to the public during a statewide election.

"Voters need to be responsible for asking for an absentee application and returning it to receive a ballot, acknowledging they started that process and that's the method they choose to vote," she wrote.

• Requiring the Secretary of State to develop a uniform program for clerks to use information from state and federal databases to cancel voter registrations based on confirmed residencies in other states.

• That absentee ballots require identification that include a voter's printed name, signature and last four digits of their Social Security number before it is accepted.

• A defined curing process for absentee ballots returned without the required identification that gives ample time for a voter to provide that data before the ballot is rejected.

• An added online verification process to allow an absentee board to confirm a random sample of a percentage of absentee ballots to ensure ID requirements were verified by the county clerk. "This being done after the Board has convened in the presence of Challengers and Watchers, if present," White added.

White voiced concerns about Senate Bill 8, which proposes 16-year-olds being eligible to vote in a local election, automatic restoration of felons' voting rights, Election Day becoming a recognized holiday, automatic voter registration at the MVD and permanent absentee lists.

"I've yet to hear good reasons for implementing any of these items," she wrote.

Recommendations from the report's executive summary:

• Launch a campaign to inform voters their ballot is secret and explain how that secrecy is maintained throughout voting and counting.

• The Secretary of State should consider instructions on what to do if voters receive ballots for others not living in the household. "In addition, we recommend the NMSOS set up an online registry that voters can use to identify and report these erroneous ballots so that the NMSOS can determine why ballots are being sent to wrong locations and their implications for ballot security and chain of custody issues," the report stated.

• The Secretary of State should encourage voting locations to adopt voter privacy sleeves for in-person voting. Only one in five voters were offered such a sleeve in 2020. The authors stated privacy sleeves help to increase voter confidence by protecting ballot privacy.

• State law needs clarification on third-party vote-by-mail ballot delivery. A law in 2019 indicates it is unlawful for any person who is not an immediate family member to collect and deliver a ballot. But there are no consequences for violations. The authors stated similar laws without consequences in other states have resulted in ballot harvesting.

• Add an online feature that provides absentee voters information on whether their ballot was accepted. The report noted absentee voters frequently went online to see whether their ballot arrived at the county clerk's office or to check their voter registration.

• Continue to allow voters who requested a mailed ballot to vote in-person if they change their minds. Such voters are required to sign an affidavit stating they did not vote with their absentee ballot. More than 33,000 voters used that option. "Given the large number of voters who took this option, it appears to be both a popular and an effective policy and therefore we recommend continuing it," the report stated.

 
 
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