Making your voice heard: Bernalillo County Clerk's Office holds voter registration event

Mateo Garcia hasn’t voted in nearly two years. He was discouraged when he tried to vote in the 2022 midterms and was told he could not because of an issue with his voting registration.

“I was registered in Rio Arriba County and I tried registering (in Bernalillo County), and they told me I had to go back to (Rio Arriba County) and cancel my registration and then come back and register here,” he explained. “The whole process really scared me off from voting.”

Garcia said he got the itch to vote again but didn’t know where or how to go about completing the registration process. His grandmother then told him about a voter registration event taking place outside of Bernalillo County’s offices at Alvarado Square on Tuesday — National Voter Registration Day.

He attended and was able to complete his registration in roughly five minutes.

“The process was quick and very easy,” he said.

He was one of dozens who stopped by to either register to vote or update voting registration ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Bernalillo County Clerk Linda Stover said it’s important for all people to know voting status so they can participate.

“You can do it online, you can come into (the County Clerk’s) office and register, and we even have same-day registration at polling locations,” she said. “There’s no reason for people not to be registered to vote. We make it accessible.”

One person who took advantage of the outreach effort was Olivia Amaya Ortiz. She was walking in the area when she saw the event and decided to stop by and check on her voting registration status.

“I think for a lot of us, our lives get busy,” she said, “and to have a quick way to check my registration at events like this are great of the community.”

Patrick Baca, who heard about the event on the radio, decided to walk up from his nearby home. He echoed Ortiz’s point on the importance of the community having access to voting registration and information.

“There should be more people involved in voting because it makes a big difference in our country,” he said. “And I hope people get out and vote.”

Tuesday’s event also doubled as an opportunity to learn how to become a poll or election worker for the county.

“We need your help,” Stover said. “We have citizen-run elections, meaning the County Clerk’s Office puts it together, and our poll workers are important to us.”

Photos from the Bernalillo County's National Voter Registration Day event