Voter Beware

Link: Voter Beware.

Secretary of State may lack adequate personnel.

An intense 2008 election cycle looms for New Mexico, but the state may not be prepared to handle it.

New Mexico is slated to use the ES&S M100 optical scanner in the ’08 elections.
SFR has learned that none of the three employees listed by the Office of the Secretary of State (SOS) as voting machine supervisors in fact currently hold that position, nor are they certified to use the Election Systems & Software (ES&S) system that will be deployed statewide to tally paper ballots.

This year, for both the primary and general elections, the state will only utilize paper ballots. Those ballots will be read by the ES&S M100 optical scanner.

An organizational chart for the SOS submitted to the Ethics Subcommittee of the Legislative Council on Oct. 24 lists Daniel Gutierrez, Patricia Rael and Manny Vildasol as voting machine supervisors, a position mandated by state law and required to be filled by individuals who are “knowledgeable in the mechanical operation, repair and maintenance of voting machines used in this state.”

The election code provision adds that the state voting machine supervisor “shall provide assistance to counties” in the repair, maintenance, care and proper use of voting machines.

A source familiar with the workings of the SOS confirms to SFR that there is no employee on staff who presently fulfills the legal requirement of voting machine supervisor.

According to a receptionist in the SOS’s office, Gutierrez retired on Jan. 5.