Primary Election Day: Screwed Up

Above, the Thoreau Fire Station. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

“What we've got here is failure to communicate.” - from Cool Hand Luke, 1967.

A little while ago, I returned home from voting in today's Primary Election in Thoreau, New Mexico.

Due to the coronavirus, voters in Jamestown, New Mexico have to vote at the Thoreau Fire Station. Normally, we vote at our own fire station (Whispering Cedars). Thoreau is about 14 miles east of Jamestown.

When I got to the polling place, the workers didn't have our precinct information (but they were able to get our information through their computers). I had a feeling that we would have some hassle to vote, so I brought along my voter i.d. card which contains all of my information, including precinct.

Instead of being handed a normal ballot, I was handed a provisional ballot. Because I voted via a provisional ballot, I have to check in ten days to see if my ballot was counted. I had to complete two forms on two envelopes.

When I was done voting, the poll worker told me to hand my ballot to her. Lord knows where she put it. It certainly didn't go into a secure and sealed box.

Above, the notice on our community bulletin board. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

On the way back home, I saw Mindy Schultz in front of our fire station and stopped to chat with her. She said that they didn't get any notice on the voting change. She found out through the notice posted on the community bulletin board. A great case of the right hand not telling the left hand what's going on.

Well, at least I got my voting done.

UPDATE:

This afternoon, I was interviewed by Richard Reyes of the Gallup Independent on the irregularities of today's voting in Thoreau.

UPDATE II:

I received another call from Reyes of the Gallup Independent this evening. He said he spoke with the elections board and they told him that I (and others from Jamestown) had to vote by provisional ballots because "the computers were down". I told him this was untrue as the poll worker successfully scanned the barcode on my voter i.d card and she read off my information with no problem. He said that others who wanted to vote got so frustrated with what was going and decided against voting.