Hundreds of city voters didn’t sign mail-in ballots

Hundreds of Albuquerque voters failed to sign the envelopes containing their special-election ballots, and City Clerk Amy Bailey is urging others to remember that a signature is required.

The election is being conducted entirely by mail, so it’s critical that people follow the instructions on the envelopes, the clerk said.

“If they don’t sign the oath, then we won’t count it,” Bailey said Wednesday.

For those who didn’t sign the mailing envelope before sending it in, there’s still time. City staff can track down the ballots because the mailing envelopes already have the voter’s name printed on them.

Election workers can’t actually see how the ballot is marked, however, because the ballot is enclosed in an inner envelope, inside the mailing envelope.

Bailey has other advice, too: Don’t cram more than one ballot into an envelope, even if you’re part of the same family at the same address.

Voters who want to participate must get their ballot to Bailey’s office by 7 p.m. March 11. She prefers voters use blue or black ink to mark the ballots.

Voters must affix a stamp, which costs 46 cents, to mail the ballot.

The ballot has only one question: whether to change the city’s rules for runoff elections. If voters approve, the city would be required to hold a second election — a “runoff” — anytime a candidate fails to win 50 percent in the initial round of voting. The current requirement is 40 percent.

A coalition that included union groups circulated petitions to force the city to hold a special election on the question.
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal