Whether
you consider voting a right or a responsibility, or both, now is the time to
gather your wits. Early voting has begun, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 6th.
The ballot is busy enough with federal, state, and local matters to justify
some preparation. Consider these sources of information:
League of Women
Voters
The
League of Women Voters has been the national workhorse providing nonpartisan
election information for many decades. Here is the Santa Fe LWV voter guide: https://www.lwvsfc.org/uploads/7/9/7/7/7977240/lw_voter_guide_november_2018_fin.pdf.
NMVote.org
NMVote.org
is the New Mexico Secretary of State portal for voter information such as voter
registration, polling places, candidate lists, absentee ballot requests, etc. http://nmvote.org
.
Click on “Find my Registration and Election Information”
for personalized voting info including sample ballots.
Bonds for
Libraries
On
your ballot, Bond Question B is about libraries—the act “authorizes the
issuance and sale of library acquisition bonds,” not to exceed $12.8 million,
which will be used by school, public, academic, and tribal libraries for
library materials and electronic needs. For information, see https://www.nmbondsforlibraries.org/
Bond
Question B basically asks to continue the same amount of support for libraries
approved by voters in previous years. Libraries in Santa Fe County would get a
total of $656,000, with Santa Fe Public Library receiving about $220,000, dedicated
to print and non-print information resources (e.g. books, ebooks, downloadable
audio, online magazine and newspaper access, etc.) as well as certain kinds of
Internet computer equipment. All Bond funds are used for resources for the
public.
More Informed
Voting
The
Internet abounds in election information … of all kinds. Some are committed to
neutrality as part of their mission, such as https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia:About and https://votesmart.org/. Many newspapers
and other organizations support their own election news sites.
It’s
an obvious quote, but: “Every
election is determined by the people who show up.”
