Serving as the election Canvassing Board on Nov. 17, the Sandoval County Commission got a unanimous vote to certify the results of last month’s local election, despite pleas from election deniers and voter reform advocates that they not certify the voting results.
At its Nov. 8 meeting – a day after the local elections were held throughout the state – the Commission heard from several people during the public comment period who urged them not to certify the vote. Same-day registration, early voting, ballot drop off boxes, and the integrity of electronic voting machines were among the reasons they said the election results couldn’t be trusted. A few brought up perceived irregularities in past elections, one woman calling on the Commission to decertify an election held three years ago.
When the Commission met to certify the primary election in June of last year, Chairman David Heil had to gravel down an unruly audience and had law enforcement clear protesters from the room. A crowd jeered the vote of every commissioner but one. Saying that it was imperative that the panel was presented with “a complete set of facts,” District 2 representative Jay Block cast the lone no vote in a 4-1 outcome.
But Block was won over this time, praising the County Clerk Anne Brady-Romero and her staff for doing a “phenomenal” job.
“I just want to say hats off to you guys. Really, really good job this time,” he said at the end of the meeting held without disruption.
The Clerk’s Office and election staff were showered with praise from other commissioners, as well. Brady-Romero was sure to thank everyone she could think of for making it a successful election.
Something to say
At the outset of the meeting, Heil read a statement that said it was the Commission’s “mandatory obligation” to certify the vote as the Canvassing Board within 10 days of an election.
“The County Commission does not have authority over the County Clerk or the Secretary of State. Decisions about voting laws are made by the Legislature. The Commission didn’t have such authority a year ago, six months ago, now or anytime in the future,” he said.
He said the Canvassing Board’s only job was to review the County Clerk’s report for errors, omissions and ambiguities.
“The Board’s duty is to see that the report shows returns are complete and mathematically correct,” he said. “The Board does not have the authority to question the conduct of the election, the operation of voting tabulators, the performance of any election, etcetera.”
Heil noted that the Otero County Commission lost its state Supreme Court case last year when it declined to certify the vote in that county. He said if the Commission failed to canvass the vote, “we’ll be back next week and voting under the penalty of incarceration.”
Heil also prepared remarks addressing some of the public comment the Commission had heard recently.
He said petitioners calling for a re-check of the vote would be required to pay for the cost to perform the task. The County has 150 voting machines, he said, and at an approximate cost of $1,000 per day over 10 days, the deposit would be $10,000 and costs could exceed that.
He also noted that re-checking the vote was not a hand count; it would just be a verification of the voting machine tallies.
Finally, addressing the accusation that the County’s voting machines were not certified, Heil produced the certificates and letters of certification for all to see.
Clerk’s Report
The Nov. 7 election in Sandoval County wasn’t without flaws, though they were minor and quickly resolved, according to Chief Deputy Clerk Joey Dominguez.
Dominguez, and Bureau of Elections Manager Tina Dominguez, no relation, presented the report on the election in which 15,930 people voted, a 15.1% turnout. Of those, 7,931 people voted on election day, 5,531 voted early and 2,482 cast absentee ballots. There were 291 same-day voting registrations.
Joey Dominguez said all the votes could be reconciled except one. A hand count was required at the Torreon chapter house of the Navajo Nation due to being off by one vote.
The deputy clerk said the most egregious error caused the County to deploy two spare voting machines to the Ponderosa Fire Station. An election official there mistakenly removed the cards from two machines during voting hours, forcing them to automatically shut down.
“I don’t even understand how the judge could make that type of mistake,” he said. “Sometime like that should not happen.”
Fortunately, replacement machines were already en route and arrived about 10 minutes later, he said. Dominguez said they have spare machines, technicians and replacement poll workers on standby throughout election day.
But the snafu led to questions from the commissioners about the amount of training poll workers receive.
Clerk Brady-Romero said workers used to get just a half hour of training but now receive closer to eight hours. “Our training is very extensive,” she said.
Joey Dominguez said training consists of an instructional video, classroom training and hands-on simulation. A written test might be incorporated for the next election cycle, he said.
The County employed 269 poll workers and another 143 during early voting. Dominguez said they would take up a suggestion from the public to hold a debriefing of them all.
“So we’re going to send out a survey to every poll worker asking for what they feel we can improve. We’re always open for constructive criticism to improve the process,” he said.
Other ways to vote
Most of the votes cast in the election were cast before election day by a slight margin.
Dominguez said 3,372 absentee ballots were sent out and 2,482 of them were returned. Of those, 43 ballots were rejected due to issues like a lack of signature or social security number.
There was one other issue with an absentee ballot. A voter who had an absentee ballot picked up a replacement ballot at the Mountain View Middle School polling location but inserted it into a provisional ballot envelope, so that ballot had to be hand counted.
Joey Dominguez said they implemented a new system for tracking absentee ballots once they were returned.
“At every point in the phase it required a beginning count and an ending count” that had to be verified and signed for by the parties involved, he said. They ended up with 100% reconciliation.
Early voting accounted for more than a third of the votes cast. Commissioner Block wanted to know how much that cost the County. While Dominguez didn’t have that figure handy, he said he could provide it later.
Commissioner Michael Meek said he’d like to know the costs of previous elections as well, to gauge if costs were increasing.
“I’d like to see how much we’re going up and what this is costing, because we do want to help you,” he said.
Block also asked about voter drop off boxes. Just two where utilized during this election: the one at the County Complex collected 78 ballots and 28 were cast at the Placitas library.
Block wanted to know if cameras were used to verify there was no one was ballot stuffing, and was told that was not done.
“That’s kind of troubling to me, because we want to make sure that the integrity of every ballot is ensured,” he said, adding that “We should be reconciling everything, whether it’s drop boxes, or early voting or absentee or anything like that, in my opinion.”
Heil pointed out that cameras couldn’t be conclusive, since it would be legal for him to deposit ballots for both him and his wife.
“My point is you can’t tell how many ballots you’re putting in there,” Block said, adding that it was a “high-risk” issue all over the country and a potential “blind spot” for election officials.
But Block was satisfied this year’s election was secure and this time made the motion to approve the canvass of the vote.