With early voting season in full swing, Santa Fe’s 2021 municipal election has seen relatively quiet polling places and fewer than 1,200 ballots cast. Instead many voters are still opting for absentee ballots.
Early reports from Santa Fe County show slow in-person turnout so far, with far more voters preferring the mail-in option that snowballed in popularity after the pandemic kept many voters from casting ballots in person last year.
Santa Fe County Clerk Katharine Clark says her office was hoping for a higher turnout on Saturday, the first day of expanded early voting—341 voters showed up. She attributed the lower-than-hoped-for turnout on the relatively muted ballot that features a mayoral race and three contested City Council seats.
Over the early voting period, which stretched from Oct. 5 to Oct. 15, 850 voters cast ballots at the county clerk’s office on Catron Street. Saturday marked the beginning of expanded early voting, when voters can cast ballots in one of eight locations—of those different polling places, the Santa Fe County Fair Building on the Southside of town saw the most traffic.
Alternatively, the number of absentee ballots mailed to residents thus far: 3,457, a much higher number than the secretary of state’s office projected. Clark tells SFR that the state predicted about 1,700 voters would request ballots by mail, more than double that amount have already asked to vote from home.
Clark says those who would still like to receive an absentee ballot should request one by Oct. 19, if planning to return the ballot by mail, or by Oct. 26, if voters instead decide to drop their ballot at a permanent drop box or polling location. Election Day is Nov. 2.
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Given many voters’ preference for mail-in ballots, Clark says her office has worked to improve the absentee process for Santa Feans. The county offers an absentee ballot tracking service via SMS on its website and includes other information about how to register to vote, request an absentee ballot and even look up wait times at polling locations.
Given the dramatics surrounding election integrity in 2020, Clark hopes to instill confidence in voters participating in this year’s race. She says the SMS program and permanent drop boxes are two programs she hopes will encourage more people to vote, while also building trust in the democratic process. “There’s a drop box that goes directly into the clerk’s office so at 2 in the morning, drop your ballot off if you want to and that’s under 24-hour surveillance,” Clark says laughing.
In the city election, 60,331 people are registered and eligible to vote. Same-day voter registration ends Oct. 30.
For more election coverage, candidate information and voting details, check out SFR’s election FAQ.
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October 19, 2021 at 07:57AM
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Slow Start to Early Voting | - Santa Fe Reporter
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