Los Alamos County Clerk Michael Redondo. Courtesy photo

BY BROOKE DAVIS
Kiwanis Club

At their April 28 meeting, the Kiwanis Club heard an interesting and informative presentation by Los Alamos County Clerk Michael Redondo. He covered the changes that have been made in the primary elections, elements of the County Clerk’s responsibilities, and voting timelines.

For the first time ever, New Mexico will be holding semi-open primaries. The voter requirements for this type of primary are:

Registered Democrats and Republicans must vote their respective ballots

Declined to State (DTS) voters not affiliated with a party and unqualified minor party voters may select a major party and vote that ballot, and

Qualified minor party voters (Libertarian or Green) may use Same Day Registration to affiliate with a major party or to register as DTS

The first day of early voting (and last date to change registration is May 5. May 16 starts expanded early voting that runs through May 30. Election day is Tuesday, June 2. Absentee ballot requests must be made by May 19. Redondo referred to the State Secretary’s website at NMVote.org as a site to visit for additional information and registration.

The County Clerk’s office has many responsibilities. They are responsible for running elections, including qualifying candidates, creating ballots, proofing voting machine programming and checking modules, and conducting a post-election audit which involves hand counting ballots.

The County Clerk also keeps records for the Probate Court, maintains real estate and land records, officially records public records such as marriage certificates, and records and takes minutes of County Council meetings