BernCo Clerk Stover

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Bernalillo County Clerk Linda Stover had no time to cry in their beer following the decision of the NM Supreme Court rejecting their request for an all mail June 2 primary election because of the coronavirus.

Stover told us moments after the high court decision, "We must move forward" and SOS MTO said, ". . .Voters will still have everything they need to make their voices heard. . . My Office will comply with the court’s order and mail absentee ballot applications to all voters registered with a major political party."

Sending absentee applications to all voters is new, but the court rejected her request to send actual ballots to all voters.

The Court's decision may in fact be a godsend because sending actual ballots to every registered voter of a major political party (Dem GOP and Libertarian) could have been a logistical nightmare with charges of fraud, unreturned ballots and/or missing ballots.

The state Dem Party asserted that because of the ruling from the Democratic majority high court that:

Many poll workers and the general public will have to choose between exercising their right to vote and protecting their health.

It's hard to see that happening with MTO, Stover (both Dems) and all county clerks having the eye of history staring over their shoulders. In fact, Stover says she is ready to act on making the election safer and will immediately go to District Court asking that she be allowed to reduce the number of polling sites:

We are looking at perhaps 8 or 9 convenience centers for early in-person voting and using the same centers for Election Day voting. Having fewer locations means a safer voter. Also, many usual polling locations are not available because of the coronavirus.

Stover added:

SOS MTO

This is a primary election with no independent voters eligible so turnout will be lower than a general election. We will make a major advertising push to get people to vote by absentee and that will help cut down the in-person traffic at the polls. We must and will move forward to give the people of Bernallio County an election of integrity and efficiency.

The clerk also said she will look to younger citizens to man the polls to replace older poll workers who have expressed concern about contracting the coronavirus. She noted the many unemployed young people available for such work as a result of the stay at home order.

GET THEM EARLY

Veteran GOP political consultant Bob Cornelius, speaking from Austin, said with election officials and candidates pushing absentee voting instead of in-person balloting, absentees could make up as much of 60 percent of the total votes cast. He added:

Older voters, who comprise the majority of Republican primary voters, will be the first to respond to absentee voting, but the candidates will push that option to all voters and it will have high impact. It wil also impact the campaigns by making candidates get their media and messaging out now. Absentee ballots will start to go out May 5. By the middle of May, if they are coming in heavy, some of these elections will have effectively been decided before June 2. 

The state GOP filed the action that the Supremes approved and were pleased with the decision.

(It) will protect the health and wellness of voters. . . while preserving the integrity of the election. The court’s refusal to rewrite New Mexico election law—to allow the unsolicited mailing of live ballots as part of an all vote-by-mail (VBM) election--shows the proper respect for the importance of election integrity,

But this could just be round one. The decision by the court, headed by Republican Chief Justice Judith Nakamura, was made because the justices did not believe they had the power to change election laws to provide for an all mail election, saying only the Legislature could change the election laws.

The Legislature in a special session could make the November election an all mail election but much will depend on health conditions going forward and also on how the June primary balloting turns out.

You can request an absentee ballot here and mail it in beginning May 5.

CORONAVIRUS DATA UPDATED

We're getting a much better look at the Coronavirus pandemic in New Mexico thanks to a new dashboard from the Department of Health.

The first sad revelation from it is the alarming rate of coronavirus among Native Americans tested. They now account for over 37 percent of the state's cases, although they only represent about 11 percent of the statewide population. Predictably, most of those cases are in the Indian County counties of San Juan and McKinley.

Twenty six percent of those tested and proving positive are Hispanics. 23 percent are whites.

It was wrenching to hear state Senator George Munoz explain the necessity of an order from the McKinley County Commission that hard liquor sales at convenience stores in the county be halted. The city of Gallup has done the same. Munoz said that's because groups of homeless gather and pass around a bottle of liquor, furthering the spread of the virus. "They pass around the whiskey bottle and panhandle," Munoz said.

Poverty, alcoholism and other health conditions make the Native population vulnerable to the virus, experts say. Other observers note that the Indian culture is close knit and that obeying social distancing can be very emotionally painful.

About 33,000 coronavirus tests have been administered in NM and have turned up 1,407 cases.

McKinley County has about 15 percent of the cases (204).

BernCo has had 464 cases or about 32 percent of the state cases. BernCo's population of 678,000 is 32 percent of the state's total of 2.095 million,

McKinley's population of 72,000 is only 3.4 percent of the state total yet has 15 percent of the virus cases. And that's a big part of our state's story of Pandemic 2020.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020