Judge says ballot cast under his name not his
A federal appellate judge in Albuquerque is angry and worried after he says he was barred from voting Tuesday because the Albuquerque Clerk’s Office records showed someone had already voted under his name.
City Clerk Natalie Howard says her office is investigating what she called a first-of-its-kind occurrence, and she’s not concerned about systemic failure come Tuesday’s election.
Judge Harris Hartz said that he showed up at the city Record Center early voting center at Sixth and Menaul on Tuesday about 5:15-ish and he was told he had already voted about an hour earlier at City Hall.
Hartz says he has an alibi.
“I had five people in my office at 4:15, so they know I didn’t vote at that time, unless they won’t believe four law clerks and my judicial assistant,” Hartz said Thursday.
Hartz presented his driver’s license to the vote center staff, who confirmed his identity. But when they attempted to print his ballot, they received a message that he had already voted.
“This has never happened, ever happened,” Hartz said, noting he never encounters people with his name in Albuquerque nor does he have male family members registered to vote in town.
He said the friendly staff and the voting center couldn’t explain what had happened so they put him in touch with the Clerk’s Office.
“There are two possibilities. Someone used my identity. That would be very bad. I suspect the more likely thing is there was an error in how they counted for things, maybe somebody else voted and they checked off my name,” Hartz said.
And the possibility of a systemic issue is what concerns him most, since Tuesday is the run-off election for mayor and one city council district.
“I’m worried on Tuesday it’s going to be a disaster,” he said.
Howard said Thursday that her office has never encountered such an issue.
“I’ve never had this happen before. In this case, he is saying he definitely didn’t vote, so no I’m not concerned there are any issues (with the system), but of course I want to help and get it resolved,” Howard said.
She and her deputy clerk have requested the records from the voting machine vendor, Automated Election Services based in Albuquerque, in order to compare the signature on the suspicious record to Hartz’ signature on his voter registration and driver’s license.
But as of Thursday, her office had yet to examine the record.
Howard said she has invited Hartz to come to her office to provide his driver’s license for signature comparison and to verify his identity.
Hartz, though, said he does not have time to travel to her office and he will be unavailable next Monday and Tuesday, so if the situation is not remedied today — the last day of early voting — he won’t be able to vote. He says the voting center staff said he could not fill out a provisional ballot, and the city clerk website says “provisional ballots aren’t issued in Municipal Elections for any reason other than failure to present identification.”
“I never miss voting,” he said.
He is hoping the issue is resolved somehow today.
Howard did not return calls or emails seeking comment about provisional ballots or updates about the vendor record investigation late Thursday.
“I shouldn’t have to take a trip to Clerk’s Office,” Hartz said. “In a way it’s comforting she hasn’t gotten any other reports, because my concern was it would screw up the election.”