Quick Reads

Group sending absentee ballot applications to voters

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A group is sending absentee ballot applications to voters throughout the state. While the ballots are valid, they are still causing some to question whether they are official. The ballots come from the Center for Voter Information, which is affiliated with the Voter Participation Center. Previously, NM Political Report wrote about the VPC sending voter registration forms to tens-of-thousands of eligible but unregistered voters. Some people have reached out to NM Political Report after receiving the ballot applications in the mail with concerns if they are valid.

2020 elections

Trump trial balloon of moving Election Day lands with a thud

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Democrats in New Mexico, including the Secretary of State, rejected President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the upcoming federal elections be delayed. Trump floated the unlikely idea on Twitter Thursday morning, writing, “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

After pushback, including from Republican leaders who said the idea of moving Election Day back was a non-starter, Trump tweeted that he was glad he got the media to talk about mail-in voting. Election Day is set by federal law and leaders in the U.S. House and Senate, including Republicans, rejected the idea.

News

Election officials prepare to count flood of absentee ballots

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State officials have urged New Mexicans to vote via absentee ballots if at all possible, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, it appears, voters have heard this and are responding. New Mexicans are voting by absentee ballot at an unprecedented rate for this June’s primaries. 

As of Tuesday morning, 98,485 voters in the primary had cast ballots through absentees. In 2008, the year that previously had the highest amount of absentee ballots for a primary had just 30,854 absentee ballots cast. That number will continue to grow—as of Tuesday morning, 155,673 voters requested absentee ballots.

Absentee Voting

Thousands have requested absentee ballots

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Over 5,500 New Mexicans requested absentee ballots as of the afternoon of Wednesday March 25, according to the Secretary of State’s office. That is after her office opened the state’s absentee ballot portal on March 20. 

The launch of the online portal came a month earlier than normal for the June 2 primary elections. New Mexico offers “no-excuse” absentee voting, which means any eligible voter can vote by absentee just by requesting a ballot. Some states don’t have any absentee voting, while others only allow voters to request absentee ballots for certain reasons. The online portal for absentee ballots only began in 2018, so there is not a direct comparison for the numbers this year, in a presidential election year, which has higher turnout than elections without a presidential race on the ballot.

2016 elections

Early and absentee voting in NM beats 2008, 2012

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New Mexico voters finished early voting with a flourish, with over 88,000 New Mexicans casting ballots early and in-person in the final two days of early voting on Friday and Saturday, according to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office. More voters voted early this year than in either 2008 or 2012, even as absentee voting numbers continue to fall. Democrats finished with a 64,727 vote advantage with early voting over Republicans, casting 229,208 early ballots compared to 164,481 for Republicans. Those not part of either major party cast 79,478 ballots early. Early voting ended Saturday.

Elections

Early voting blows past 2008, 2012 totals

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Early voting numbers have already exceeded total early votes cast in New Mexico during the 2008 and 2012 elections, according to the latest numbers from the Secretary of State’s office. A total of 376,088 voters cast early in-person votes through the close of polls Thursday, 28,929 more than in 2008 and 1,514 more than in 2012. Early voting closes Saturday. A total of 52,639 voters have returned absentee ballots, bringing the total ballots cast up to 428,727—just under 33 percent vote turnout even before election day. The number of absentee ballots cast is well off the pace from 2008 and 2012 levels.

2016 elections

Over 240,000 New Mexicans have already voted

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From Monday through Thursday, another 146,001 voters cast ballots in New Mexico through either early-in person voting or by returning absentee ballots, bringing the total to over 240,000 votes so far. The numbers, provided by the Secretary of State’s office, are as of end of day Thursday. In all, 240,433 voters have already cast ballots, with more than a week left of early in-person voting and a week and a half until election day. Early voting has again proven far more popular than absentee voting. So far, 207,214 New Mexicans have cast in-person ballots through early voting, while 33,219 returned absentee ballots.