Early Voting Continues Without Reports of Major Incidents

Voters in Torrance County raised concerns after it was determined that the County Clerk’s office mailed out 140 ballots without return addresses. However, the New Mexico Secretary of State’s representative and Torrance County Clerk Linda Jaramillo assured voters that the clerk’s office was receiving ballots.

No Major Incidents

On October 31, 2024, Senaida Anaya, who handles election matters on behalf of the Torrance County Clerk’s Office, reported that the county’s election efforts were proceeding without incidents or strife. In other jurisdictions, physical altercations were reported between voters and poll staff and between voters and each other. In comparison, last year, a voter wearing a campaign-branded hat was asked to remove the hat, an incident that caused the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office to clarify that it was acceptable to wear a hat for a candidate within 100 feet of a polling location provided the candidate was not running in that particular election.

With respect to early voting results, Anaya showed that 700 absentee ballots had been received by the county as of 2:25 PM on Thursday, October 31, 2024, with 175 ballots outstanding. Anaya explained that this was consistent with past elections. Anaya recalled that roughly 50 to 100 absentee ballots were issued but not returned in past elections. With respect to in-person early voting, 978 people had voted at the county offices in Estancia, and 2,105 had voted at the Moriarty Civic Center. One absentee ballot had been rejected by the county clerk’s office.

Checking On Absentee Ballots

For those who voted via absentee ballot, it is relatively straightforward to check to see if your absentee ballot has been accepted by the county clerk. Voters should take the following steps to see if their ballot has been accepted by the Torrance County Clerk:

• Go to nmvote.org and scroll down to the navy blue box with the label "Find My Registration & Election Information." Click on this box.

• Clicking on the box will take you to the page labeled "My Registration Information." On the registration information page, fill out the information sought in the box labeled "Voter Registration Search" and click on the "Search" button.

• Clicking on the search button will take you to the page labeled "GENERAL 2024 11/05/2024 - Voter Registration Information." Scroll down to the box labeled "Absentee Application & Ballot Tracking Info." In that box, you can find whether the county clerk’s office has received your absentee ballot and on what date. If your ballot has not been accepted by the county clerk’s office, you should contact the county clerk’s office for instructions on how to either submit a second, in-person ballot or otherwise rectify the problem.

The county clerk’s office can be reached by calling 505-544-4350 if you need assistance or if you cannot verify whether your ballot was accepted.