MVD voter registration improved with electronic conversion
MVD voter registration improved by going electronic, top state election official says. No written complaints received after voter registration books closed. Several phone queries were tracked.
- Heavy absentee voting forecasts good turnout in Lincoln County for the general election
The woman on the other end of the telephone clearly was upset, verging on hysterical at a few points.
She related an incident where she registered to vote at the local Motor Vehicle Division office while attending to another issue, but later discovered that registration apparently, never made it down to the Lincoln County Clerk’s office in Carrizozo.
She contended the mix-up should not have occurred for the millions of taxpayer dollars spent to devise an electronic system to track registrations filled out at the MVD.
But New Mexico Elections Director Kari Fresquez said the new electronic system has been a resounding success with no written complaints and only a few by telephone.
“In May 2015, the Secretary of State’s office and the MVD worked together to unveil a highly successful electronic system,” she said during an interview Wednesday.
The SOS, under which elections fall, had received many complaints in 2014 from people who said their voting credentials never arrived at their county clerks’ offices after they registered at the MVD, she said.
With the new system, they are able to track, audit and log voter registrations, which automatically are offered to customers at the MVD in line with state law, she said. The necessary questions are answered as part of the MVD process.
“The new electronic registration at MVD went live on May 26, 2015,” Fresquez said. “Since that time, we have received 82,752 registrations from the MVD offices statewide. Receiving electronic registrations, in lieu of the old paper process, has made it easier to track registrations and ensure they arrive timely at the county clerk offices for processing. Also, we no longer have to worry about lost mail and difficult to read penmanship.”
“We have not received any written complaints, but have fielded several phone call since the registration period closed” for the Nov. 8 general election, she said. “And we’ve been able to track down several. What the issue typically is, is that the county clerks are still processing registrations. We had about 5,000 come in before the books closed (Oct. 11).”
An electronic log is used to track anyone who registered at the MVD and helps determine what happened to their applications.
County Clerk Rhonda Burrows said her office was able to register the woman who ran into trouble with the MVD, and part of the problem was that she was using a Roswell mailing address.
“Overall, the MVD system is very much improved this cycle now that it is electronic,” Burrows said. “More commonly, we have problems with people issued paper forms through the Human Services Department, but those officials have been very accommodating and even drove some of the registrations to us to ensure they arrived before the deadline.”
Burrows said she is encouraged about voter turnout for the general election in November based on the number of absentee ballots issued, which nearly hit 800.
“Currently, we have issued 760 absentee ballots by mail and 165 early in-person voters have cast absentee ballots at the clerk’s office,” Burrows said. “That’s a lot. We haven’t had that many in a long time.”
The total number of registered voters in the county is 13,878 with 3,280 signing up as Democrat and 7,642 as Republican. Another 2,367 checked “decline to state” and 589 were registered under minority parties.
Early voting begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at the former middle school called the Horton Complex on Service Road in Ruidoso and at 8 a.m. Monday in the county courthouse in Carrizozo.
