Clerk’s Office Awards and Achievements

Awards

2022 EAC Clearinghouse Honorable Mention - Improving ADA Accessibility for going above and beyond ADA requirements to empower voters with disabilities, and to ensure maximum throughput at the busiest sites.

2023 NACo Achievement Award: Civic Engagement and Public Information - Democracy 101 for giving Santa Fe County area high school students the opportunity to register/pre-register to vote, meet with and learn from the County Clerk and staff, and participate in a mock election with real election tabulators.

2023 NACo Achievement Awards: Personnel Management - Election Worker Mentorship and Debrief Programs for empowering all election workers to voice their feedback about their experiences, giving our office the opportunity to learn and grow in future elections.

Other Achievements

Records & Recording

480,000 files have been scanned in since taking office in 2021; the digitalization of Clerk's office real estate records, which began in 2004, is now complete
Online real estate records portal, which takes card payment, can be used to purchase records and receive them in email inboxes nearly instantly
- This portal will also decrease in-person traffic at the office, allowing for constituents to be assisted more quickly

Bureau of Elections

Improving Access
- Installed 8 absentee drop boxes in Santa Fe County, 5 of which are drive-up accessible
- Took additional steps to ensure ADA compliance at each polling site
- Established an elections help desk for voters and election workers
- SantaFe.vote, our elections page, is now a central hub for information about all elections in Santa Fe County
- Voters can track wait times at each polling site in real-time at SantaFe.vote
- Our busiest site, the County Fairgrounds, now handles up to 350 voters an hour with little to no wait
- Hired an Outreach Coordinator to manage events, social media, and the website
Efficiency
- Implemented instant chat messaging between polling sites and staff, and established a ticketing system for much faster reponse to polling sites during the election
- Created a training and certification program for newly hired messengers
- New envelopener machines prevent damage to ballots (from a 4% damage rate to 0%)
- Streamlined HR hiring process for poll workers, and new training and tracking softwares
- Cooperating with USPS to cut lost ballots by nearly 90%
- Using a sophisticated inventory management system for warehouse organization and supply management
Security
- Customized chain of custody, which has now been implemented in several other counties
- First county in New Mexico to use GPS tracking for ballot transport, and ensuring ballots never sit over night at polling sites
- Each drop boxes is monitored by 24 hour video surveillance
- Absentee ballot processing location has armed guards, ensuring there is no interference with ballots