SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján on Wednesday urged New Mexico´s top election regulator to provide more time for people to submit absentee ballots by mail in the state’s June 2 primary even though state law may not allow it.
Lujan requested Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver to accept statewide ballots if they are postmarked by June 2, even if they arrive afterward.
Toulouse Oliver said through a spokesman that the election code does not give her the authority to extend the deadline for absentee ballots.
Under current procedures, ballots must arrive by mail or be dropped off by voters by 7 p.m. on June 2 in order to be counted.
Luján, a six-term congressman and the presumptive Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, cited reports of delayed and failed responses to requests for absentee ballots in Santa Fe County.
The state Supreme Court in April rejected a request backed by Toulouse Oliver and the majority of county clerks that would have streamlined the absentee balloting process by shipping ballots to nearly all registered voters. The court also rejected requests to scale back in-person voting in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Alex Curtas, a spokesman for the secretary of state, recommended that ballots be mailed by Friday to ensure they arrive in time to be counted. He noted that absentee ballots can be turned in by hand at early voting centers that operate through Saturday, at county clerks’ offices through Election Day and at traditional precinct voting locations on Tuesday.
Santa Fe County Clerk Geraldine Salazar could not be reached immediately to comment on alleged absentee balloting problems.
Public officials including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham are encouraging voting by mail to reduce risks of transmitting the coronavirus. More than 113,000 absentee ballots had been submitted as of Wednesday morning, out of about 149,000 votes cast so far.
Three Republicans including former television weatherman Mark Ronchetti and anti-abortion activist Alexis Martinez are competing for their party’s nomination for U.S. Senate.
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