County tabulates as it receives national attention

Election Day is upon Sandoval County and the clerk, deputy clerk, pollsters and academics are ready.

Sandoval County historically has been a very politically competitive area with conservative and liberals splitting the county almost down the middle, according to data provided by University of New Mexico professors that are observing the election this year. The county is a mix of rural and urban areas. with seven pueblos and tribal entities as well.

At 7:01 p.m., just after the polls closed, pollsters posted the results tapes from early voting on the exterior wall of the warehouse.

Ballot boxes started to file in at around 8 p.m. Pollsters were prepared with coffee, warm jackets and lots of pens.

Before boxes could be accepted, they were sniffed by Sandoval County Sheriff's office K9 unit. The German shepard in charge was excited to get to work, barking in between duties and begging its master to let it continue.

Clerk's offic staff as well as managing pollsters were enjoying a brief lull in action before hustling and bustling as pollsters from around the county brought their boxes.

The diversity and sheer size of the county has made the process all the more interesting both locally and nationally.

Election Day and the long pollster hours

For Sandoval County Bureau of Elections, the Election Day process at the warehouse started as soon as absentee and early votes came in. County Clerk Anne Brady-Romero and her deputy Joey Dominguez talked about what Nov. 5 would look like on Nov. 4.

Dominguez said the pollsters were working on permits for the 50,000 early voting ballots casted.

The permits are the third check before the county officials canvas the votes, which just means the votes are validated.

"We want to verify permits are accounted for. They're going to do a physical count of the ballots again," Brady-Romero said.

Election Day itself is when votes are tabulated, polls are closed and results tapes are generated. It can be a 12-14 hour day for everyone working it, according to the clerk.

"Our goal is to be 75% reported by 9:30 p.m. tomorrow night. Hopefully it all works in that plan, but you know, if voters are in line by 7 p.m. and we have a polling site that has 200 voters in line, we'll wait 'til the 200th person has voted and then close the polls at that point, run results tapes, bring CF cards to the warehouse so we can upload results," Dominguez said.

Brady-Romero recalled being at the warehouse until after 1 a.m. for the primaries at one point.

In the past, media have called seats before all the votes were in. Local seats in the 2020 election were called by the Observer before all votes had been tabulated. At the time staff did not take pueblo and tribal entity votes into account, which tend to take the longest to be delivered to the warehouse. For the outermost parts of the county, it can take 90-plus minutes to get a messenger to the warehouse.

The warehouse itself has tight security to ensure a safe and fair election process. People are allowed to observe at the warehouse on Election Day.

In order to observe, there is a screening process at the warehouse. For example, as members of the press, media will have to sign in and get a sticker after being screened. There will be an area set up for observers in the warehouse.

The closing of poles will require people to be further back because results tapes will be generated quickly, but they won't be able to release the results until after 7 p.m.

"I envisioned tomorrow by 3 p.m., I could have all of early voting uploaded. So, as soon as seven o'clock hits, we're going to be doing an export here with our secure drive at 7:01. We'll be doing that to simultaneously; we'll be polling, exporting as soon as we have them both loaded on our main server. I'll validate and publish hopefully at 7:05 and push it up to the Secretary of State by 7:10. So that's my goal. The longest part of that is getting the secure drive to open properly because it's so secure. It always resets and it times out. That's the longest part about releasing the results," Dominguez said.

The expansion of the warehouse's broadband has helped speed up the process as well. However, even with that expansion, the large files can take a while to load. In case of any technological catastrophe, the county has also invested in backup generators.

Many parts of the county will be ready in case of any emergencies. Brady-Romero says police and fire departments are ready to help. She explained that the election system is not just one person but almost every department in the county all the way up to the county manager.

"It really does take a village," she said.

According to the Secretary of State's website, New Mexico law permits properly designated individuals to serve as challengers and watchers during early voting and on Election Day. Being a challenger or watcher gives the individual access to a specified early voting center or polling place to observe voting activities.

New Mexico law does not allow for individuals to be self-appointed watchers at a polling location. Individuals that do not have the proper authorization or credentials to be present at a polling place, other than to vote, will be asked to leave. There are penalties for disruption, intimidation or coercion of voters in the polling place.

Examples of voter intimidation and discriminatory conduct:

• Aggressive behavior inside or outside the polling place.
• Blocking the entrance to the polling place.
• Direct confrontation or questioning of voters, or asking voters for documentation where none is required.
• Disrupting voting lines inside or outside of the polling place.
• Disseminating false or misleading election information.
• Election workers treating voters differently in any way based on race or other protected characteristics.
• Brandishing of weapons.
• Photographing or videotaping voters to intimidate them.
• Poll watchers or party challengers confronting, hovering or directly speaking to voters.
• Posting signs inside the polling place of penalties for “voter fraud” based on voting or support for a candidate.
• Challenges to voters by election workers and party challengers that are made without a stated good-faith basis.
• Challenges by anyone other than a member of the precinct board or a party challenger.
• Using raised voices, insulting offensive or threatening language, or making taunting chants inside the polling place.
• Vandalism of polling places.
• Verbal or physical confrontation of voters by persons dressed in official-looking uniforms.
• Violence or using the threat of violence to interfere with a person’s right to vote.

There are federal and state penalties for voter intimidation or discrimination.

Additionally, vote tampering can result in felony charges.

"All poll officials have to sign a code of conduct which outlines statutes, the criminal and civil penalties associated with breaking the election code. There's actually conspiracy to violate the election code, which is a fourth-degree felony. We make poll workers aware of that," Dominguez said.

Despite this, Dominguez says the election system in the United States is designed so that doesn't happen.

"I would actually say that not one individual person could disrupt an election. There's so many safeguards in place," he said.

This year, people will see UNM students as well as their professor at voting and polling locations to observe the election process. New Mexico is the only state that includes academics as observers of the election.

National attention

The Sandoval County election process appeared in a Washington Post article and for a reason people may not expect.

It is no secret that a group has been at Sandoval County Commission meetings over the past couple of years to question election integrity in Sandoval County. However, two from that group were hired on as poll workers for the general election. Brady-Romero and Dominguez are glad to say as much. John Veltri and Ramona Goolsby were identified as those pollsters.

"We administered the oath to John and Ramona, so I don't see it as a concern," Dominguez said.

Brady-Romero was glad that the article highlighted the clerk's position as a public servant position.

"I'm a public servant; I will do my job and I will serve the people. It doesn't matter what party they're from," she said.

She added that she just wants people to use their right to vote.

Another part of the article covered a change of integrity faith in County Commissioner Jay Block, who didn't certify the 2020 election but certified this year's primary. All other commissioners did as well.

As far as the article was concerned, it appears the clerk's office has quelled most of the concern for election integrity.