Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Mele Armijo of Tucumcari votes May 5 at the Quay County Courthouse during the first day of early voting for the June 2 primary election. She was the third voter to cast a ballot.
Early voting began last week at the Quay County Courthouse for the June 2 primary election, but it was not your typical early voting.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, County Clerk Ellen White and her staff dealt with a batch of new protocols and safeguards when early voting officially began the morning of May 5.
Voters were asked to use hand sanitizer from a dispenser outside the clerk's office and don a disposable protective mask before entering. Painter's tape on the floor marked where voters could stand if there was a line.
In the office, White or her deputies checked voters' registrations and printed their ballots from behind masks and a Plexiglas shield.
Voters marked their ballots at one of four booths spaced more than 6 feet apart for social distancing. White said those booths would be disinfected with Clorox wipes as often as possible after voters used them.
After inserting ballots into the collection machine, voters were instructed to place voting pens and disposable masks in separate plastic bins. White said her staff will sanitize those pens and reuse them if they run out of them during the course of a day.
White said planning for a COVID-safer early voting was labor-intensive for several weeks, but it went smoothly once it started.
And it helped that those early voters proved to be accommodating.
"We haven't had any voters complain about it," White said. "They've thanked us for taking the extra step for providing a sanitized, healthy environment to vote in. We don't have any issues at all.
"We're really fortunate. I think our community supports what we're doing," she added. "People who still want to vote in person still have that option, and people who feel like they ought to stay at home can do that, as well."
Voting-method numbers likely will be skewed for this primary, however. White reported a total of 71 early voters by Friday afternoon, half of the usual number.
But the number of Quay County voters who filled out an application for an absentee ballot totaled 860 by Friday afternoon, White said. That blows the old record of 90 absentee ballots during an election out of the water. That also means nearly one-fifth of the county's voters already have decided to vote absentee.
The New Mexico Supreme Court last month ordered the Secretary of State to send absentee-ballot applications to all registered voters in the state after hearing a petition from many of the state's county clerks to go to mail-in voting for the primary because of safety problems and logistical hurdles created by the pandemic.
The high court, citing state law, rejected the petition but ordered applications be sent to give voters the option of casting an absentee ballot in the safety of their homes and mailing it back.
To request an absentee ballot application, call the clerk's office at 575-461-0510 or going to the Secretary of State's website at https://bit.ly/3fza2Er .
Early voting will continue from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays in the courthouse at 300 S. Third St. in Tucumcari through May 30, when voting that day runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The June 2 primary election will continue to host in-person voting at centers in Nara Visa, Forrest, House, San Jon, Logan and Tucumcari that day, but with social-distancing protocols.
