Voters approve 3 mill levy for technology at Los Lunas Schools

LOS LUNAS — Unofficial results of a special all-mail election for a 3 mill levy to support technology in the Los Lunas Schools district show the measure passing with 2,611 votes in favor and 2,129 against.

In November, the 3 mill question was on the ballot but it did not pass. In the same election, voters approved the continuation of a 2 mill levy and a $24 million general obligation bond.

The LLS Board of Education members approved a resolution to hold a special, all mail-election on just the 3 mill levy, which has been in place since 1998, with ballots sent out to every registered voter in the school district.

Valencia County Chief Deputy Clerk Brenda Green said the county clerk’s office mailed out 27,749 ballots and, as of the close of the voting period at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 13, had received back 4,740 ballots, a turn out of 17 percent.

Green said while the turn out was “dismal, at best,” it was still better than the typical participation of 10 to 12 percent in all-mail, special elections.

The current results are unofficial, and still need to be presented to the Valencia County Commission on Wednesday, Sept. 4, for review and canvass, making the results official.

When asked by the News-Bulletin for comment on the unofficial results last Thursday morning, LLS acting Superintendent Susan Chavez said the district couldn’t offer comment on the election results until after the canvass was complete.

Later that day, the district issued a statement via its Remind app expressing “sincere gratitude” to the voters.

“The support shown at the polls is a testament to the value our community places on equipping our students with the tools and resources they need to succeed in an increasingly digital world,” the mass message read in part.

The 3 mill levy will be used to replace student and teacher devices like laptops and tablets, enhance the district’s wireless connectivity and bandwidth, pay for new educational software and online learning platforms, enhance cybersecurity measures and increase teacher training and professional development for integrating technology, according to the message.

After Tuesday’s special election, the county clerk’s office and county bureau of elections were waiting for possible “cures” from voters who didn’t submit their mail-in ballots correctly.

During the 2023 legislative session, a law was passed that allows voters who made a mistake on an absentee ballot — such as not signing it or omitting the last four digits of their Social Security number as required — to “cure” the mistake.

Voters had until 5 p.m. the Friday after the election to return the correct information needed for their ballot to be counted.

“In an all-mail election, ballots are treated like absentee ballots in terms of the process,” Green said. “If there’s something left off, like a signature, we send the voter a letter asking them to ‘cure’ the mistake and return a form with the correct information.”

As of close of business on Wednesday, Aug. 14, the bureau of elections had 356 ballots waiting for cures and had received about 50 corrections, with those “cured” ballots included in the unofficial numbers released last week.

On Monday, Aug. 19, Green said three ballots were cured and processed by the absentee board last Friday, and were added to the preliminary results.

The chief deputy clerk said she suspects there were so many ballots with missing information because people aren’t used to voting via the absentee process.

“No one had an issue signing the form or filling in the last four of their Social (Security number) and sending it back to us,” she said. “I think people just aren’t used to the process and didn’t fully read the instructions on the envelope.”

After the deadline for cures closed at 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16, the absentee board reconvened and finished tabulating the ballots.

Another challenge the clerk’s office ran into with the all-mail process was bad mailing addresses for voters, Green said. The office received hundreds of ballots back as being undeliverable due to bad addresses.

“We send the ballots to the mailing address on their voter registration. Maybe you have a PO box that you don’t use any more. If that’s the mailing address we have, then it’s going to come back to us,” she said.

Green urged voters to double check the mailing address and registration information they have on file with the clerk’s office ahead of the General Election in November.

Voters can update their mailing address and voter registration in a number of ways. They can visit the New Mexico Secretary of State’s website — nmvote.org — and update their information there, or visit the Valencia County clerk’s office at 444 Luna Ave., Los Lunas, in person and fill out a new voter registration form with their current information.

Both those options are available until the first day of early voting on Oct. 8. After that date, voters can visit an early voting location or one of the county’s Voter Convenience Centers on Election Day, and do same-day registration to update their information.