Keeping an eye on the polls

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Hundreds of volunteers have been keeping a close eye on the election process around the state and will continue to do so until the ballots are all tallied.

Observe New Mexico Elections, a non-partisan group founded in 2024 with support from the Carter Center, has approximately 300 volunteers spread around all 33 counties, working to ensure public trust in our system.

“From every background, every age, every race, every religion, every political party – people that are very committed to protecting democracy and care deeply about their community and care about elections,” said Observe New Mexico Elections co-lead Carmen López when asked about who volunteers for this undertaking.

A recent survey from Ipsos published in the Washington Post showed only 61-percent of Americans are at least “somewhat confident” or “very confident” the midterms will be conducted fairly and accurately.

But Observe New Mexico Elections is working to find any issues in the election process and address them to increase voter confidence.

“Research in the U.S. and elsewhere shows that when there are non-partisan election monitors present, and the monitors say that there is not fraud in the election, people have greater confidence in the election outcomes,” said López.

KOB 4 watched one election observer, Craig Goldsmith, as he worked Wednesday at a polling location in the South Valley.

“So, for me, that was interesting just from kind of a nerdy perspective. But also, I personally didn’t want to sit on the sidelines anymore and just read the news. I wanted to be involved in the process in some way,” he said.

Goldsmith noted there are dozens of things he has to look for including how the polling location was set up, how people were checked in, how ballots are handled and secured, and whether the polling site provides proper access for those with a disability.

“These are facts, right? So, we have all of these observers that are fanned out across the state.  So, when the data comes out, if we say it was X, Y, and Z, we’re not making it up. It’s not an opinion,” said Goldsmith.

López says that since 2024 they have encountered a few issues that needed to be fixed including poll workers in Union County improperly asking 152 residents for a voter ID.  She noted all of those voters were allowed to cast their ballot.

But mostly, New Mexico’s elections have been well-managed, even garnering the top spot in the country in an MIT study of each state’s election performance during the 2022 midterms.

“Overall, our findings are that elections in New Mexico are smooth, they are efficient, they are run well. The people who are supposed to vote can vote, and their ballots get counted and their voices heard,” López said.

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