Hundreds of special election ballots won't count

KRQE TV

Tina Jensen

Updated: Feb 16, 2013 11:24 AM

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) — Thousands of voters have been quick to return their special election ballots to the City Clerk’s office.

The ballot has one question on it. Should be easy, right?

But hundreds of voters are forgetting a simple but important step, so the votes won’t count.

“A significant enough portion of people are forgetting to sign their voter’s oath on the back of the envelope,” said City Clerk Amy Bailey. “In order for your vote to count, we have to have your signature.”

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Of the 3,174 ballots that have been processed as of Friday, 432 were missing a signature on the envelope. That’s more than 13 percent that are missing the voter’s oath and cannot be counted.

Bailey says some people might be intentionally leaving the outer envelope unsigned, concerned their signature could be copied by an identity thief.

“If people are concerned about that, they're more than welcome to assemble their ballot packet, then put that ballot packet in a separate envelope,” Bailey said.

But for others, it might be too late. The city won’t be notifying voters whose ballots are unsigned.

Bailey says if you think you forgot to sign your ballot – call their office and they’ll be able to track down your ballot and figure out a way for you to sign it.

The special election changes how many votes a mayoral candidate would have to receive to be voted in without a runoff election, from 40% of the vote for 50% of the vote.

The City Clerk’s office says everybody should have received their ballots by Tuesday.

The ballots are due back to the city March 11.

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