There’s been some solid progress in a state effort to get a group of New Mexicans with past felony convictions registered to vote.
That after a lawsuit was brought against three state agencies in late September for failing to move fast enough to comply with the state’s Voting Rights Act, passed in July 2023.
The measure ensures that upon completing prison terms and leaving correctional facilities, eligible voters among the formerly incarcerated are given access to the registration process as quickly as possible.
Santa Fe attorney Daniel Yohalem, who’s working on behalf of the plaintiffs, which includes four individuals and the group, Millions for Prisoners, said that he’s pleased with the number of reregisrations that the state has completed in the past two weeks.
Out of 941 eligible voters who were rejected, 70 percent are now registered to cast a ballot next Tuesday.
A document the Secretary of State’s office emailed to Yohalem on Tuesday provides a county-by-county breakdown of reregistrations since county clerks received instructions from the state earlier this month.
Perhaps most impressive is the performance of one of the agencies named in the lawsuit, the office of the Bernalillo County Clerk.
Bernalillo County has reregistered 367 out of 373 eligible voters, or 98 percent.
Other counties rereigstering eligible voters at a pace in the 80s or 90s percentage-wise include Dona Ana, San Juan, Valencia, Luna, and Santa Fe.
But while some counties took action quickly, other county clerk offices have been slower to reregister eligible voters who reside in their counties.
The three lowest percentages were reported in McKinley County, at three percent, and in Otero and Eddy counties, both at eight percent.
Those three counties have only reregistered a combined six out of 95 people on a list of formerly incarcerated eligible voters whose registrations had been rejected.
No word yet on why there are such wide reregistration discrepancies between counties. An email asking that question was sent late yesterday to the Secretary of State’s office.
