County clerk defends pace of absentee vote counting

Facing post-election frustration and Facebook criticism, Doña Ana County Clerk Amanda López Askin defended her office Tuesday during a speech that stressed the office’s commitment to accuracy and transparency – even at the cost of speed. 

“First and foremost, our primary responsibility as the county clerk’s office on election night is to administer a fair, accurate and transparent election,” said López Askin during a county commission meeting on Nov. 12. “This means our number one priority is counting every vote and ensuring the process is followed meticulously.”  

The statement follows a contentious national election mirrored locally by close races, mudslinging and no end to political ads seeking to demonize candidates. But it was one state senate race in particular that led to much consternation from local Republicans.

López Askin did not oversee this election. She was a candidate seeking to keep her seat as county clerk. The law prevents her from overseeing elections in which she’s a candidate. 

Instead, the deputy county clerk, Caroline Zamora, oversaw the election. However, López Askin oversees the office’s operations throughout the year and oversees elections in which she is not participating.  

The absent voter board on election night, Nov. 4, 2024, count absentee ballots about 15 minutes before they were dismissed for the night.

In that role, she addressed criticism aimed at the office during the week after Election Day.

“It’s important to note that we do not know the election results in advance,” she said, noting that the Secretary of State’s office posts the results and the clerk’s role is merely to count the votes and send the totals to that office.  

In the contest for New Mexico Senate District 38, state Sen. Carrie Hamblen, a Las Cruces Democrat, won a second term by a narrow margin on Nov. 5. 

Samantha Barncastle Salopek, her Republican challenger, fell short by 296 votes, or about 2 percent. Barncastle Salopek criticized the clerk's office in Facebook posts from Nov. 5 to Nov. 9, as absentee ballots were being counted and reported to Santa Fe.

“My camp still has not received a response to any of our requests for information. However, I will not be pursuing that madness anymore,” she wrote in a Nov. 9 post announcing she had conceded. “There are clear failures in communication and proper process. But I also have evidence to suggest that the miscommunication was not just one direction.”

Before that post, Barncastle Salopek had said she was considering a lawsuit against the clerk’s office, but has walked back that position since. 

“The rumor mill, conspiracy theories, and all of the fantastical information being circulated in our community have made it such that I will not have an easy time proving the things we know to be true, and credibility is paramount in these situations. None of that rhetoric is helpful, and it's exactly the kind of stuff I campaigned against! I will not be a part of it,” Barncastle Salopek wrote in the Nov. 9 post.  

While López Askin said she was not directly addressing any candidate in her statement, she did address questions around communication.  

“We strive to maintain transparency and trust in the process, which is why we make a point to minimize direct contact with candidates on election night and post-election night,” López Askin said. “I’ve even received text messages from friends and other county officials that I will not answer. Not because I do not want to give them information, but I don’t want the perception of anybody having any favoritism.”  

However, López Askin said that one possible change moving forward would be to implement candidate training, including explanations of what candidates can expect to happen on election night.  

One point of tension revolved around absentee ballots.  

Unlike in-person voting, absentee ballots are counted by a group called the absentee board. A state law passed in 2023 required clerks to dismiss the absentee board at 11 p.m.

The goal of the change was to ensure that absentee board members, who start their work early on election day, are not overworked and thus more prone to mistakes. The board then reconvenes the following day until the count is complete. This year, it took the board seven days to count about 10,000 absentee ballots. The board recessed on Nov. 11, according to a news release from the clerk’s office.  

And while the election gets further and further away, the administrative portion of the process moves to the next step. On Nov. 15, the clerk’s office will present the ballots and other election data to the Board of County Commissioners, which convenes as the canvassing board. That board will vote to certify the results, sending them to the state canvassing board which does the same thing.  

“We want results as quickly as possible,” López Askin said. “And we will continue to prioritize accuracy over expediency.”