What to know heading to election day

In the hope of educating voters on their way to the polls, we spoke to Dona Ana County clerk Amanda Lopez Askin, who shared a few things you may, or may not, know heading into election day.

“It's really important that voters know that we have a voting on demand system, and that means that you can vote anywhere, at any location in Dona Ana County,” Askin said. “If you live in Chaparral but you want to vote in Hatch you can do that.”

The county doesn’t have preprinted ballots when you check in, they print them specifically for you based on your voter registration address, so you're not limited to where your precinct area is like it was back in the “old days.”

“We’ve had that for quite a long time, and I think somehow there may be voters that still don't know that, so we want to make sure that that's something that we stress,” Askin said.

She also noted that voting locations are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on election day, so if you’re in line at 6:59, as long as you’re willing to wait, they are more than happy to count your vote, and they want you to stay in line and be able to do that.

“So, we are open early for those that are early birds and, after 5 o'clock for those that maybe have a more traditional schedule and don't get out of work until 5,” Askin said. “I would say if you're waiting for election day, expect to wait and experience election day. If you don't want to wait, I would encourage folks to get in early voting, which closes on Saturday. So that's really important I think to stress.”

Early voting is currently available every day this week, but it ends after Saturday.

“If you look at our website, you can look at the details, but the government center is open Monday through Saturday this week, traditional hours during the week, 8 to 5, and then on, on Saturday we are open until 6 p.m.,” Askin said. “Those are the non-traditional hours and include a Saturday so they can capture those voters who may again have a more traditional schedule. Early voting does end on Saturday there's no early voting on Monday.”

The county clerk encourages voters to get in as soon as possible if they want to avoid the election day rush,

“If they like the experience of voting on election day, then good for them,” she said. “That will be me as well, so I totally understand, and there's actually something really cool about waiting with other people to vote.”

Askin also stresses that, like in all odd-numbered years, this is a non-partisan election so if they are looking for a party label on any of the candidates, voters should be aware of that fact.

“I would encourage folks to do their homework, and connect with candidates via their campaign, and see where they stand on issues because if you're looking for a party label to assist you on that, it will not be there,” Askin said. “A lot of times people get upset and agitated and demand from election officials what a party affiliation in is our job is to facilitate them voting. We are not directed to vote or give any opinion about campaigns, candidates or party affiliations.”

There is just one Las Cruces city council race, District 6, that will be decided by ranked-choice voting, which comes into play any time there are more than two candidates in a city election in Las Cruces. That ballot option will look different to voters in District 6.

“I would say that's why we encourage folks to go get a sample ballot so if they want to look at their ballot prior, they can get comfortable with it,” Askin said.

Askin notes that, while election results will start coming in after 7 p.m. Tuesday, it will be later in the night or early-morning hours before all results will be tabulated. The counting of the ranked-choice race and also the fact that voters are not required to go to their assigned precinct to cast their ballot mean county election officials need to wait until all precincts are counted to know the winners in any individual precinct.

“We always shoot for earlier the better because we know that that increases voter confidence,” Askin said, “but at the end of the day our job is to count all the votes and so we will wait until that is done.”