Los Alamos County Board of Registration met Tuesday to review a list of 211 inactive voters. Courtesy/LAC

COUNTY News:

The Los Alamos County Board of Registration (Board) met Tuesday, Feb. 26, to review the list of 211 inactive voters to ascertain whether they met the criteria to be purged from the voter rolls. 

The list of voters was compiled through unbiased efforts of the New Mexico Secretary of State (NM SOS), per the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, (NVRA). 

Los Alamos County Council appointed board members, which included Catherine Ozment (D); Chris Luchini (L) and Brenda Sharp (R), during its Feb. 12 meeting.

In order to be eligible for removal from the voter rolls, the following criteria shall be met:  

• The registrant was mailed a confirmation mailing in August 2016;
• The registrant is currently in “Inactive” status;
• The registrant has not updated his or her registration address since being mailed the August 2016 confirmation mailing; and
• The registrant has not voted in any election since being mailed the August 2016 confirmation mailing. 

The board reviewed the records on the inactive list and verified those on the list did indeed meet the criteria outlined above, thus, directing the County Clerk to cancel the registration of 211 voters from the Los Alamos County voter rolls.

“I am confident that the process used in removing inactive voters from the rolls was competently executed, given the criteria laid out in the law and regulation,” Luchini said. “The staff was prompt and courteous in addressing all concerns I had with the process and with the data. I compliment them on their professional work.”

Sharp said, “It was an honor to serve on the Board of Registration for my community.”

“I appreciated the opportunity to participate in this process, and I’m confident that state laws provide a clear and fair way to periodically clean up the voter rolls,” Ozment said. “Our outstanding County Clerk and Election Manager are committed to accuracy and transparency, and they oversee our elections and voter rolls with care and integrity. They provided the board with all of the documents we needed and answered any questions we had about the process or specific records under review. With their support, we verified that the 211 voters included in this year’s purge meet the necessary criteria. The law requires that members of the public provide a final check before voters are removed due to inactivity. The Board of Registration is intentionally made up of people from different political parties and world views, which gives me confidence in the system put in place to protect this part of our fundamental right to vote.”  

“I appreciate the time and meticulous dedication the board spent during the purge process ensuring that our voter rolls are accurate and are in proper order. Los Alamos is very fortunate to have these devoted community members who are to be commended for adhering to the guidelines and procedures prescribed by the Secretary of State’s Office,” County Clerk Naomi Maestas said.

Maestas has submitted the board’s final report to the NM SOS, as required. 

Maestas would like to remind residents who are not registered, have moved, or changed their mailing address, to complete a voter registration form in the County Clerk’s Office at 1000 Central Avenue, 2nd Floor, Suite 240, or by visiting the NM SOS Voter Registration Portal at NMVote.org.  For more information, contact the Clerk’s Office at 505.662.8010, or email clerks@lacnm.us.