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Torrance County clerk reports absentee ballot processing issues after building evacuation
Summary
County Clerk Linda Jaramillo said 871 absentee ballots were issued for the general election and 358 returned; a batch of roughly 140 envelopes arrived without return addresses and about 88 were recovered through the post office. Smoke from a nearby structure fire forced temporary relocation of some voters to the Moriarty Civic Center.
County Clerk Linda Jaramillo updated the board on the 2024 General Election at the Oct. 23 meeting. She said 871 absentee ballots were issued and 358 have been returned to date. While processing, her office identified a batch of roughly 140 ballot envelopes lacking return addresses; postal staff helped recover about 88 of those envelopes and two more weeks of mail remained to be processed.
A structure fire northwest of the administration building sent smoke into the County Administration Building and staff evacuated some voters; the clerk redirected voters to the Moriarty Civic Center, where about 150 voters were processed. Jaramillo said the county had recorded 2,169 votes so far out of approximately 10,200 registered voters. She outlined procedures when an absentee ballot is not received at home and described affidavit-of-nonreceipt handling to guard against double voting.
The board did not take immediate action; the clerk said staff will continue to track incoming envelopes and work with postal officials to ensure ballots are counted where valid.
