By Jacey Blue Renner
Get Ready to Vote
With only a few weeks before New Mexico’s voters head to the polls to cast their votes for the Regular Local Election on Nov. 4, the League of Women Voters of New Mexico has been working tirelessly to ensure locals will be educated, informed, and ready to vote for the most qualified candidates on each ballot.
As a reminder, the League of Women Voters of New Mexico is a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization that serves New Mexicans by giving voters unbiased information about important issues and their local candidates. It is the only organization providing this particular type of voter education. The Central New Mexico League was established in 1948, continuing the mission the national League began in 1920: to educate women about the issues and candidates before voting. Today, both national and local chapters strive to educate all voters, and in this case, all New Mexicans.
Learn About Your Candidates
Starting the first week of October, just in time for early voting, which begins Oct. 7, and Election Day, which falls on Nov. 4, local voters can visit vote411.org to practice their due diligence before heading to the polls. There, they can explore their individual candidates and issues that affect them, what their county priorities are, and how individual issues might impact their districts and neighborhoods. VOTE411 is the League of Women Voters’ newest effort to make information available statewide. Remember, this year’s local elections are all nonpartisan; without a primary, focus can lie completely on the Regular Local Election. From Oct.18 through Nov.1, locals can also take part in Expanded Early Voting.
Across these municipal elections, voters will be able to enter their home address into the VOTE411 software platform, which is used nationally, and find topical answers from district candidates, bond issue questions, and background data. As this is a general election year, voters who visit VOTE411 will see mayoral races, City Council and village trustee races, school board races, Soil and Water Conservation District races, and Flood Control board of directors races, among others. A free service to both candidates and voters, candidates can answer questions as candidly as they wish, in English, Spanish or both, making outreach and information extremely accessible to all New Mexicans in both rural and urban communities.
“There are more than 550 candidate races of one sort or another in New Mexico this fall. The Central New Mexico League has joined with other leagues in Santa Fe, Los Alamos and southern New Mexico to divide up the work so that every qualified candidate throughout the state has been asked to provide answers to local questions,” said Karen Wentworth, 1st Co-Vice President of the League of Women’s Voters of Central New Mexico, who has held the position the last three years.
“Voters need to be reminded that they do make a difference. Almost every year in local New Mexico elections, there are races that are decided by a single vote. It’s always worth the effort to vote, because you may be the one that changes the outcome of an election,” Wentworth said.
Accessing Your Voter’s Guide
VOTE411 creates a personalized Voter Guide that makes voting decisions extremely accessible and provides locals with an efficient way to do their homework. From the home page, voters will enter their home address and find guidance on where to find their polling location, confirm what’s on their ballot and view every candidate. VOTE411 will show voters only the races relevant to their vote. Additionally, voters from Bernalillo, Torrance, Valencia and Sandoval counties will also be able to view a PDF of the Voter Guide on the League of Women Voters of Central New Mexico site during the first week of October.
“What the League does is important because voters are tired of the noise. They just want to know what the candidates plan to do to make things better,” Wentworth said. “We offer candidates the unfiltered opportunity to explain how they would go about fixing local problems and then hope they seize the chance.
“We try to convince voters that checking out VOTE411 to see what the candidates are saying in their own words is worthwhile. It’s also your responsibility as a citizen to inform yourself about the issues and to make the best choice you can among the candidates.”
Get Involved
To learn more about how you can get involved with your New Mexico area League of Women Voters, visit lwvnm.org. Locals can join one of four chapters or become a member at large.
One important goal, Wentworth said, is to create a “safe space for political discourse.”
“We welcome people of any age,” she said, adding that younger voters or students might be surprised to learn that the League needs online and social media volunteers. “The League of Women Voters believers voting is the best way we have to create the future we want. So just go vote.”
