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Clerk outlines plan to digitize records, put ballots online and outfit new Dinosaur Trail voting warehouse
Summary
County Clerk Lehi Clark described FY2026 requests to finish record digitization, publish ballot images with redaction, outfit a new Dinosaur Trail warehouse with resilient broadband and furniture, and buy a mobile voting unit and ADA ramp funded in part with federal Homeland Security grants.
The Santa Fe County Clerk told commissioners the FY2026 proposal focuses on digitizing historic records, improving election transparency and outfitting the county's new Dinosaur Trail voting warehouse.
Clerk Lehi Clark told the Board of County Commissioners the office plans to re-scan poor-quality historical images, finish indexing roughly 9,000 Spanish-language cursive documents and move to new recording software that includes fraud alerts and improved search. Clark said the office aims to publish ballot images online with redaction to protect voter anonymity and give public access to ballot images for audits.
Why it matters: Voter trust and election administration operations depend increasingly on resilient storage, secure systems, and public access to information. Clark framed the investments as both efficiency and security improvements following federal and state funding changes.
Clark described a roughly $300,000 request to support digitization and image rescans for older records that predate reliable originals. “We have about 9,000 Spanish language documents that are in cursive,” Clark said, noting the labor to transcribe and index them. She also summarized a plan to make ballot images available online with individual-identifying marks redacted, saying: “Severa is our kind of vision of radical transparency. That is, a software that will put all of our ballots online.” Clark added the county will continue redaction safeguards and combine precincts when necessary to preserve anonymity.
On Dinosaur Trail: The clerk described carryover capital and buildout needs for the Dinosaur Trail warehouse, including desks and cubicles, a mobile voting unit partly funded with a Department of Homeland Security grant, and an ADA-compliant folding ramp to accompany the mobile unit. Clark told commissioners the broadband quote for Dinosaur Trail was high because of a costly “last-mile” dig to create resilient redundancy and avoid Starlink; she said the county had sought two independent networks for survivability.
Commissioners pressed IT options. Commissioner Justin Green suggested exploring regional fixed-wireless vendors and RediNet as lower-cost alternatives to legacy carriers; Clerk Clark said the IT office provided the quotes and staff would coordinate further with county IT.
Security and cyber: Clark flagged cuts in federal election support — including reductions in federal and state reimbursements — that have left county clerks to budget for cybersecurity and sensors that detect unusual IP traffic. She said the county will buy an Albert sensor to monitor the Dinosaur Trail network and protect systems not previously covered by federal monitoring.
Budget posture: Clark said the office will use grant funds for a vehicle purchase and that most operating lines are flat or reduced as the office pursues efficiencies through digital intake forms, automated ticketing and fewer postage costs.
What’s next: Clark said some purchases are carryovers; the county will pursue cheaper broadband options before committing to an expensive last‑mile dig, and she will return with more firm cost estimates when available.
