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The Bulletin asked the two major political party chairs in Doña Ana County for their thoughts on early voting, the impact of COVID-19 on the Primary and other campaign issues. Here are the responses from
Mona Trempe, chair, Doña Ana County Democratic Party and David Tofsted, chair, Doña Ana County Republican Party.
Bulletin: Amid the public-health emergency, how are you reaching out to voters in the Primary, including early voting?
Trempe: In Doña Ana County, we are promoting absentee voting through our social-media posts, website and newsletters, and by participating in a statewide phone-banking effort. Even though the in-person candidate forum could not take place this year, we moved it online. That is, candidates in contested primaries were asked to answer questions about local issues and their responses are published on our website. The Democratic Party of New Mexico has launched an online campaign hub that serves as a central resource for candidates, activists and voters to learn about Democratic events and opportunities to get involved. The state party is also running a digital advertising program, which has seen massive success, including a 300 percent higher click rate than most political ads.
Tofsted: Our county party has had Zoom-based outreach where our candidates have spoken during our monthly meeting. We also send out e-mails and maintain a Facebook page that gets good traffic.
Bulletin: What impact do you think COVID-19 will have on voter turnout for the primary? What are you hearing from candidates and from voters?
Trempe: In other states with recent primaries that required in-person voting, turnout dropped. This is something we are working hard to avoid in New Mexico. We are committed to making sure as many people as possible have their voices heard in every election. We have been encouraging voters to vote safely from home using an absentee ballot. Over 130,000 voters have already requested absentee ballots, so we are hoping our efforts are contributing to this result.
Tofsted: We don't anticipate a drastic change in either local or statewide turnout. Most of our candidates are attempting to work around the issues of the stay-at-home orders. So, this makes their situations difficult. The same sorts of limitations are happening to us as a party so we are not hearing as much as we normally would from the voters.
Bulletin: Do you think local voters are spending more time than usual learning about candidates and issues because of the stay-at-home order and the lack of campaign events?
Trempe: We are seeing a lot of enthusiasm for Democrats, as has been the case for the last several years. People are still adjusting to the new challenges and style of campaigning, but they are finding ways to educate themselves and to volunteer. Doña Ana County Democrats are fired up and ready to keep New Mexico blue in 2020.
Tofsted: No. We have few contested races, so we doubt they are spending more time than usual. Most of our candidates have a Facebook page or a website. So voters could be able to connect to those and find information about their candidates.
Bulletin: In this county, more Democrats are early voting by absentee ballot and more Republicans in person. If there is a trend, does it mean anything?
Trempe: As soon as we heard from the (state) Supreme Court that in-person voting would be held, Democrats have been doing everything possible to encourage absentee voting. For example, our Facebook cover card and website remind people to stay at home, wear a mask in public and vote by absentee ballot. We have been reaching out using every method available to us to make sure that people can make their voices heard without risking their health or safety or that of the poll workers. I think these numbers show the success of that education campaign and that voters, especially Democrats, are following the advice of public health experts.
Tofsted: There is a trend. Republicans who are voting in-person are more concerned about voter integrity than they are about COVID-19. Also, our experience with the early voting is that the level of protection offered by the County Clerk's personnel is as good or better than anyone could experience visiting a supermarket or one of the essential businesses in town, where lesser concern over social distancing is occurring.
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