Online voting limits to be put in place

Daily drawing will also make voters eligible for prizes

The New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame is making a couple of adjustments to the popular online fan voting portion of its induction process.

Public voting begins at 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 1 and closes at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 30.

“We’re one of only two states in the country that use it; the other being Alaska,” said HOF past president Marty Saiz. “It’s gotten very popular. We had more than 600,000 hits during one month last year.”

Saiz said there were “tons” of votes as well, but the committee couldn’t determine how many different voters actually took part. He said many were voting more than once for the same candidate.

“This year, fans will no longer be allowed to vote repeatedly for a candidate,” he said. “They can vote just once on our Facebook page (New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame) and only once online (www. nmshof.com).

“Before, someone could share a ‘like’ to their own Facebook page. So you couldn’t tell who all was voting on other pages. But now the only votes we will count are the ‘likes’ on our own Facebook page, and the votes on our website.”

The online voting creates interest and gives fans a chance to make their opinions known, but it doesn’t guarantee a candidate of induction. However, the top vote-getter is automatically included in the final pool of candidates.

The inductees are determined by a handful of members on the 21-person NMSHOF committee.

Another new aspect of the online voting is a daily drawing Saiz plans to do.

“We will draw a couple of names out of a hat from those who voted that day, and they will win a prize or gift certificate provided by one of our sponsors,” he said.

Saiz said the NMSHOF committee has increased sponsorship the past few years and is hoping to beef it up even more this month.

“We have a goal of making $50,000 for charities and in-state scholarships this year,” he said. “We’ve raised about $20,000 for scholarships and $20,000 for ALS, combined, the past two years. It’s a big goal this year, but I think we can get there.”

This is the 45th year of the Hall, which started as the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame in 1973 but eventually added inductees from around the state.

It’s the fourth year that online voting has been part of the process.

Saiz said there are “about 75 to 80” candidates on the current online list, but more will probably be added before voting closes.

He said there will be a minimum of seven inductees this year and the committee will also select a number of special yearly awards and scholarship winners.

The inductees will be announced Dec. 16, the day of the Gildan New Mexico Bowl, and will be honored during the game.

In early April, the inductees are also slated to take part in a charity golf benefit at Twin Warriors Golf Club, then a banquet at Albuquerque Country Club the following day.