2020 Voters Guide

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Following information taken from News For You - Voting Guide. https://www.newreaderspress.com/filebin/pdf/2020_NFY_Voting_Guide.pdf

Most US Citizens, 18 or older can register to vote.

Those who register usually vote.

In 2012 only 55 % of those who could vote did!

We need everyone who can, to vote.

What do you care about? Voting tells your leaders, even if the person or issue you vote for doesn't win. They need to know there are many opinions. (maybe we use views, viewpoints, ideas,) Some Reasons to Vote You care about clean air and water. You want laws that protect the environment.

Your family members want to come to the US. There are rules about who can move here and how easy it is.

You want schools to provide a good education for you and your children. Government decides what kinds of programs receive money.

You want a good job, higher pay and job security. Government can affect how easy it's to find a job, as well as how much pay and benefits companies must give to workers.

Polling (phol [ing]) Places (place to vote) can be just about anywhere: schools, churches, community centers, fire stations, etc. Make sure to check where you should go: call election office, ask a neighbor, or look in the paper.

When you get there a worker will ask your name and look you up. After signing your name, you'll get a sample ballot to look at. When there is a booth empty,

you'll step in and vote. If you have a question or need help with the voting machine, you can ask the poll worker.

You can also mail in your paper ballot (absentee ballot).

You will need to ask for the ballot by October 20, 2020.

To get it go to vote411.org, click on NM and follow the directions.

Vote For: National (Washington) President Vice President Senators Representatives

State (New Mexico) Governor Senators Representatives Judges Propositions (Laws)

Bonds (taxes)

The United States has 3 branches of government.

Legislative Branch - makes laws Executive Branch - carries out laws Judicial Branch - evaluates (i·val·yoo·eits) laws

The Legislative Branch is also called the Congress.

There are two parts that make up Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The President of the United States is the leader of the Executive Branch. The President holds all the power of this branch, and the other members report to the President. Other parts of the Executive Branch include: Vice President Executive Office of the President Cabinet

The Judicial Branch of the government is made up of judges and courts. The president appoints the federal judges, they are not elected by the people.

The New Mexico Legislature (leh·juh·slei·chr) is the legislative (leh·juh·slei·tuhv) branch (makes the law) of the state government of New Mexico.

It is made up of two parts: the New Mexico House of Representatives (reh·pree·zen·tuh·tuhvz) and the New Mexico Senate (seh-nuht); Representatives and Senators (seh-nuh-trz) are called Legislators (leh·juh·slei·trz) and they make the laws.

The New Mexico House of Representatives is the lower house. There are 70 members of the House. Each member represents about 29,000 (twenty-nine-thousand) New Mexicans.

The New Mexico Senate is the upper house. There are 42 members of the Senate. Each member represents about 49,000 (forty-nine-thousand) New Mexicans.

The State Representatives and the State Senators look over different areas of New Mexico.

To find your district (area) and legislators, please check out this video "Find Legislator Contact Info": https://www.nmlegis.gov/Website_Tutorials?Video=FindingLegislators The Albuquerque Journal has a 2020 Election Guide, please follow this link https://www.abqjournal.com/election2020 to find more voting information.

NM Judicial Part 1

NM Judicial Part 2

Duties or job of the County Clerk Elections: voting registration, absentee ballots, voting polling places and results of the election.

Marriage licenses Passports Records: deeds, mortgage, liens Minutes of all county Board/Commission meetings, hearings and ordinances.

Duties or job of the County Treasurer Collect property taxes - if you own a home or land you will pay your tax bill to the Treasurer. They take property tax payments Make payment plans for those who have a hard time paying their property taxes Answer question about taxes Keep public money and investments safe. Investment is when you put your money into a company in the hope of getting more money back when their business does well.

Duties or job of the County Commissioner Make rules (laws) for the County - they determine if the rules in place are good or if they need to be changed. They can also make new rules.

Rules (laws) can be about Taxes from sales (buying things like groceries, cars, furniture, liquor, gas, etc.)

Zoning - saying where neighborhoods and businesses can be located in the county.

New Mexico Public Regulation [reg-yuh-ley-shuhn] Commission [kuh-mish-uhn] This group makes sure utility [yoo-til-i-tee] bills are fair, your service is good and may help with billing problems. (Utilities are PNM, NM Gas Company, Water, Waste Management or trash, and Phone).

Make sure how much you pay for a moving company is fair (within New Mexico).

Help with billing issues for towing, ambulances, limousines, and taxis.

Help with cell phone billing problems.

They have fire safety programs and train firefighters.

Bonds are a way for states, counties [koun-tees], cities, towns to raise monies [muhn-eez] for libraries, schools, parks, playgrounds, health clinics, fire & police stations [stey-shuhn], animal shelters, senior centers, community centers, roads, bridges [brij-iz], etc.

Projects may include: buying land or buildings construction [kuhn-struhk-shuhn] of new buildings or adding on to old buildings repairing fixing up

buying things for libraries, schools, playgrounds/parks, health clinics, community centers etc.

Most projects are paid with an increase in property [prop-er-tee] tax - if you own your home, business, land, etc., then your taxes would go up. Landlords sometimes raise rents to pay this tax.

Voters (You) can choose if they want to give money to these projects and use their taxes to pay for them.

State of New Mexico Improve [im-proov] Senior Centers $33,292,141 (33 million, 292 thousand, 1 hundred 41 dollars)

Build new Senior Centers and buy equipment [ih-kwip-muhnt].

State of New Mexico Libraries [lahy-brer-ees] School Libraries, College Libraries, Public Libraries, Trial Libraries

$ 9,751,433 (9 million, 751 thousand, 4 hundred 33 dollars)

This will pay for resources (ree-sawrs).

Resources are books, newspapers, audio books, cds/dvds, etc.

State of New Mexico $156,358,475 (156 million, 358 thousand, 4 hundred 75 dollars) to improve and/or buy Colleges, Universities and NM Special Schools (NM Military Institute, NM School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, NM School for the Deaf, & Tribal Schools)

County Libraries $2,250, 000 (2 million, 250 thousand dollars) to buy property, build new libraries, fix up old libraries, add new furniture [fur-ni-cher]: desks, computers, and bookshelves. Buy more books, maps, cds/dvds, audio [aw-dee-oh] books and other things.

Public Safety and County Buildings 13,450,000 (13 million, 450 thousand dollars) Buy, build, and fix-up health clinics, fire & police stations, jails & prisons, animal shelters and youth & senior centers.

Parks & Recreation $16,800,000 (16 million, 800 thousand dollars)

Buy, build, and equip [ih-kwip] parks, pools, community centers, playgrounds, ball fields, and open space.

Transportation 4,300,000 (4 million, 300 thousand dollars) Buy, build, repair and equip roads, pathways, bridges, guard [gahrd] rails, bike lanes, sidewalks, landscaping [land-skeyp (ing)] , and traffic lights.

Storm Drainage & Utilities 2,250,000 (2 million, 250 thousand dollars) Buy, build, upgrade, repair, equip storm sewers [soo-er], wastewater, water, and drainage [drey-nij].

Public Housing $1, 500,000 (1 million, 500 thousand dollars) Buy, build, upgrade, and equip housing in the city to use less power (energy efficient) and other improvements for multi-family housing for low-income, homeless, senior and disabled [dis-ey-buhld] people.

25,000,000 (25 million dollars) Improve, change, rebuild (build again), repair or have more water channels, dikes, dams, and water facilities. These dams, dikes (little dam on irrigation [ir-i-gey-shuhn] ditch), water channels [chan-l] and water facilities. There may be bike trails, playing fields, horse areas, wildlife habitats (a place where an animal usually lives or is found), or golf courses.

Water facilities are buildings or places that pump water, clean water and store water. This also includes wells.

First, let's look at what is a constitution [kon-sti-too-shuhn]. A Constitution is basic principles (beliefs or values) and laws of a nation or state that determine the powers and duties of the government and guarantees [gar-uhn-tees] (protects) certain rights (freedoms) of the people.

A Constitutional Amendment [uh-mend-muhnt] then is a change to those powers, duties or rights. Someone wants to change the constitution by deleting (taking something out), or adding (putting something in) to it.

The State of New Mexico would like to know if you want 2 Constitutional Amendments.

Public Regulation Commission This group makes sure utility [yoo-til-i-tee] bills are fair, your service is good and may help with billing problems. (Utilities are PNM, NM Gas Company, Water, Waste Management or trash, and Phone). Help with billing issues for towing, ambulances, limousines, and taxis They have fire safety programs and train firefighters.

The Change: They want 3 members (commissioners) instead of 2. A commissioner [kuh-mish-uh-ner[ is a government person who is in charge of a department or district.

The voters would not get to pick the commissioners who are

in this group.

The Governor would pick from a list and the Senate would need to say that person is okay.

They would stay for 6 years.

Argument For: May be able to be unbiased (not worry about political party beliefs). Focus on whole state and not just their district.

Make sure people who are the commissioners have experience, skills and are trained.

Find people to be commissioners who know about utilities and can then make good choices.

Argument Against: Doesn't change how a Commission (a group with power or authority) works. The legislature [lej-is-ley-cher] (Senators and Representatives) will be the ones who say if the Commisioner is doing a good job and will say what skills they need to have.

The voters (you) can't keep or get rid of the commissioner if you don't like their choices.

It would be harder to get rid of a commissioner and it would take more time.

Amend (change) Article 20 Section 3 Adjust by law of terms of non-statewide elected officers and standardize [stan-der-dahyz] the date an officer begins to serve.

So, they want to stagger or alternate (shift, rotate) the elections for non-statewde (county or district officers ) appearing on the ballot in any one election and have a set date for when they start their job.

Sometimes there are so many people to vote for that voters (you) will stop picking people, because it's too many. Every office is important and if we stop we might not put people in office that show our values.

They want those who were elected (voted for & won) to start work, after the election, on January 1st .

Argument for: They want the elections to look the same. There would be about the same number of offices (jobs) to vote on. For instance, they don't want 20 judges this time and only 8 next time.

Everyone who wins the vote will start on the same date.

With less offices to vote on, the ballot would be shorter.

Surpervising (watching over) the election and training would be easier.

Argument Against: This increases the legislatures power. They may be able to change the time someone stays in office for other reasons than to keep the ballot equal.

Could change election dates, not just with national (US) voting, but in the State of New Mexico, your county (Bernalillo) and city (Albuquerque) too.

So, someone might get to stay in office longer and others may have to leave sooner.

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