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Saturday, September 20, 2008

State Plans 2.5 Million Paper Ballots for Nov. 4

By Dan Boyd
Journal Capitol Bureau
       SANTA FE — The New Mexico Secretary of State's Office plans to print nearly 2.5 million paper ballots for the Nov. 4 general election, although the state has only slightly more than 1.1 million voters.
    The reason?
    With a highly anticipated election less than seven weeks away that includes voting for president, an open U.S. Senate seat and three open congressional positions, the Secretary of State's Office wants to make sure each of the 1,550 precincts statewide is ready for an onslaught of voters who might or might not vote at their assigned polling places.
    "If we're going to err, we're going to err on the side of caution," said Don Francisco Trujillo, deputy secretary of state. "We'd rather shred ballots than disenfranchise a single voter in the state of New Mexico."
    The preliminary ballot formula, based on voter turnout levels from the past five general elections, was approved Wednesday by the state Board of Finance but must still be affirmed by both Republican and Democratic party representatives.
    The projected cost to print the ballots is $2.3 million, or slightly more than 90 cents per ballot.
    The Secretary of State's Office faced criticism earlier this year when about 2.6 million unused ballots were destroyed after the June 3 primary election. Just 265,000 voters — or 30 percent of the eligible voters around New Mexico — participated in that election.
    The Legislative Finance Council subsequently recommended that the Secretary of State's Office revise its methodology in order to reduce waste.
    This time around, the ratio of ballots per voter will be higher in more populated, urban counties than in rural ones. For example, in Bernalillo County, where about one-third of the state's registered voters reside, 2.7 ballots will be printed per voter. In Quay and Union counties, only about 1.1 ballots will be printed per voter.
    The need to print a higher ratio of ballots in the more populated counties is largely due to the number of ballots necessary for each early-voting location, which must be prepared for voters from any part of the county.
    New Mexico switched from electronic voting to a paper ballot system in 2006 in order to standardize voting statewide and create a paper trail for each cast vote.
    Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, the sponsor of the 2006 bill, said that, while there might be lingering concerns about the cost of the paper ballot system, it provides a necessary assurance to the state electorate.
    "There's no second thoughts on it," Lopez said Friday. "I think it's the right direction we've gone."
    Even with the revised methodology, officials with the Secretary of State's Office acknowledge that unused ballots will be shredded once again after the November election.
    Trujillo said, "There isn't a perfect way of doing this."