Mail-in election to cost taxpayers over $29,000

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — The Sept. 19 ballot mail-in election will cost taxpayers about $29,200, said Cibola County Elections Coordinator George Trujillo.

The special election will ask voters to approve a 1/4 of 1 percent sales tax to allow the county to build a new courts and county complex, said David Ulibarri, county manager.

"A taxpayer will have to spend $4 to raise one cent of tax," Ulibarri said.

Holding a mail-in election is much more economical for the county and the taxpayers, he said.

To hold an election where voters go to the polls in the county would cost at least double the estimated amount, he said.

"This is also more convenient for the voters, they can vote at home, in their own time and just mail the ballot back," Ulibarri said.

The county complex where the courts and county offices are located is so deteriorated that throwing money at it to improve it and upgrade it is a waste.

The basement is full of water, the roof leaks, there is mold, the electric lines are not up to code read that as being safe and there is not enough space, all according to comments made previously by commission members, county staff and Ulibarri.

Another major concern is the prisoner transport from the county detention center at the eastern edge of Grants to downtown. Security is a top concern for each trip made.

Trujillo said if the ballots were mailed Monday, there would be 14,750 ballots mailed by a private company hired by the county to print and mail the ballots.

All ballots must be in the county clerk's hands no later than 7 p.m., Sept. 19. There is no early voting and no absentee voting, just the mail-in ballots, Trujillo said. The clerk's office is at 5151 W. High St., in the county complex and is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Ballots may be mailed or dropped off in person, he said.

The county's vendor will print and will begin mailing the ballots on Aug. 25, he said.

Registration for the election ends on Aug. 19, Trujillo said.

Of the ballots being mailed, 938 are inactive, meaning the voter has not voted recently. Those ballots will be mailed anyway and if they are returned because of address problems, those ballots will be placed in the beginning stage of being purged from the records, Trujillo said.

Anyone who does not receive a ballot and believes they are a registered voter in Cibola County is asked to contact the elections department in the clerk's office at (505) 287-2540.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: tiffin.independent@yahoo.com