With election season in full swing, the 2021 local elections in Santa Fe saw relatively quiet polling stations and fewer than 1,200 ballots cast. Instead, many voters still choose to vote by mail.
Early reports from Santa Fe County show a slow personal turnout so far, with far more voters preferring the mail-in option, which kept many voters from voting in person after last year’s pandemic.
Santa Fe District Administrator Katharine Clark says her office was hoping for a higher turnout – 341 voters turned up on Saturday, the first day of the extended early voting. She attributed the lower-than-expected turnout to the relatively subdued election, which included a mayor’s race and three contested seats on the city council.
During the early voting period, which ran from October 5-15, 850 voters cast their votes in the clerk’s office on Catron Street. Saturday marked the start of the expanded early election, which allows voters to cast their votes in one of eight locations – the busiest of these various polling stations was the Santa Fe County Fair Building in the south of the city.
Alternatively, the number of postal ballots sent to residents so far is 3,457, a much higher number than forecast by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Clark told SFR that the state had predicted that around 1,700 voters would request ballots in the mail, more than double that number having asked to vote from their homes.
Clark says those who still want to receive a postal ballot should apply for one by October 19 if he plans to return the ballot in the mail, or October 26 if voters choose to send theirs instead Place voting papers at a permanent mailbox or ballot box location. Election day is November 2nd.
Given many voters’ penchant for postal ballots, Clark says her office has worked to improve the postal voting process for Santa Feans. The district offers a postal ballot tracking service via SMS on its website and contains further information on registering for voting, applying for a postal vote and even looking up waiting times at polling stations.
With the drama surrounding the integrity of the 2020 elections, Clark hopes to instill confidence in voters entering this year’s race. She says the SMS program and permanent mailboxes are two programs that she hopes will encourage more people to vote while building trust in the democratic process. “There is a mailbox that goes straight to the secretary’s office. So cast your ballot at 2am if you want and it will be monitored around the clock, ”says Clark with a laugh.
60,331 people are registered and entitled to vote in the city elections. Same-day voter registration ends October 30th.
For more information on election reporting, candidate information and voting details, see the SFR Election Frequently Asked Questions.
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