Early voters hope to evade
Election Day chaos

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

One week from today voters nationwide will go to the polls to elect the next President of the United States. The general election also includes the U.S. Senate and House races, constitutional amendments and bond questions.
Absentee and Early Voting are currently under way.

Both end on different dates: Absentee ballots must be in the Cibola County Clerk’s office on Nov. 4, the date of the general election. Any ballots received after that date, regardless of the postmark, will not count, George Trujillo, elections coordinator said.

Friday is the last day individuals can request absentee ballot applications by mail, Trujillo said.

Early voting ends on Nov. 1, the last Saturday prior to the general election.

Mariann Chavez, 40, of Laguna, said she will vote for the first time this general election.

“I want to help decide who is going to lead this country,” she said.

Voter registrations up

In Cibola County, there are 15,484 registered voters, up exactly 500 registered voters from 14,984, for the primary election in June.

Trujillo said Democrats and Republicans are 10,281, or 66 percent; and 3,163, or 20 percent, respectively. Rounding out the remaining voters are 1,659, or 11 percent, declined to state; and 381 other, he said.

We are seeing about 90 early voters a day now, with surges of up to 120, when the political parties get people out to vote early, he said.

“We are up, but only by about 10 percent in registered voters, from four years ago,” Eileen Martinez, Cibola County clerk said.

Trujillo said the clerk’s office has received about 1,000 requests for absentee ballots, with 729 issued.

The county will use an optical scanner which reads paper ballots and keeps a total of votes cast, he said.
Increased ballot security

In the primary election, two ballot boxes representing about 181-182 votes, disappeared, he said.

The county has taken steps to increase security, including putting labels on ballot boxes at the precincts, having the judges sign and lock the boxes immediately following the closure of the polls and when the boxes arrive at the elections department, they will immediately be placed in a locked room, Trujillo said.

“We never found those ballots, but the voting machines kept a total of votes cast, so we had those,” he said
Polling locations for both Cibola and McKinley counties are below with the precinct number followed by the location. For directions to any of the voting precinct locations contact the elections departments in Cibola or McKinley counties.

The Cibola County Elections Department is at 515 W. High St., Grants, in the county clerk’s office.

The McKinley County Elections Bureau is at 201 W. Hill Ave., Gallup.

Information: Cibola County, (505) 285-3525.

Information: McKinley County (505) 722-4469.

— To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 285-4560 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.