EDITORIAL: Time To Give Challengers A Fair, Equal Opportunity

Which knuckleheads in Santa Fe came up with idea that city clerks across New Mexico could have the early voting machines in their office at election time every two years – even though their bosses (incumbent mayors and councilors) may be running for re-election?
Did they even think for one moment that the incumbent mayor and councilors would be hanging out within a few feet of the machine while people are voting and challengers were not allowed within 100 feet of that machine or the building it was sitting in?
It’s just another law that was either put in place to hurt potential challengers purposely, or the legislatures are just too simple to see the harm that something like this does to the voting process overall.
It leaves absolutely no doubt that the incumbents have a huge advantage at election time.
In Socorro’s case, the people waiting in line to vote get to see, hear and stand just about 8 feet from the Mayor while he sits at his desk “doing business.”
It’s laughable and really quite troubling. The excuse that the mayor and clerk must have the voting machine in close proximity so that they may also have access to their daily duties at the same time in city hall in ludicrous.
The machine should at the very least, be in the Council Chambers where the two very qualified young ladies who work for the city can do the business of running the election. It would still be a few feet from the mayor and clerk, but would remove any possibility of intimidation or campaigning by incumbents or challengers alike and would definitely be out of the line of sight for those standing in line waiting to vote.
Although the law currently in place does say that the voting machine can be in the clerk’s office during the city elections voting cycle, the mayor and clerk should remove all doubt and any questions concerning the election and the machine’s location, and take the steps to place the voting machine away from any elected officials’ office.
If the voting machine were placed in the Council Chambers, clerk Pat Salome would only have to walk another 20 feet should a problem arise.
No one should have to stand and wait to vote with one or more incumbents standing and talking in the immediate voting area.
It’s not only unnerving for some, but actually as unfair as it gets for the challengers who are made to stand outside and across the street – 100 feet away.
The clerk should do the right thing and move the early voting machine into the Council Chambers.
In doing so, he would be removing the concern about whether it is an unfair advantage to the incumbent mayor (Salome’s boss).
It would also be a great gesture by Salome to make a simple decision and place the early voting machine away from the mayor’s office so that people are not made to feel uncomfortable and placed in an awkward situation during their opportunity to vote in a city election.
No matter how you cut it, having any voting machine within a few feet of any incumbent who is able to see and converse with voters while they are waiting to vote is unfair to the challengers outside and across the street, and at the very least is unethical in very big way.
We wonder, would the incumbent candidates feel comfortable if the challenging candidates were able to sit in the clerk’s lobby while constituents voted?

EDITORIAL: Time To Give Challengers A Fair, Equal Opportunity