As Bernalillo County Clerk I will work to ensure the utmost level of accuracy and public confidence in our election systems

I’m Clay Pryor and I am running for Bernalillo County Clerk.

My wife, Michelle, and I were born, raised, and have spent all but one year of our lives in Albuquerque New Mexico. That one year away was spent working for IBM in Des Moines Iowa after I earned my MBA from UNM's Robert O. Anderson School of Management.

In addition to IBM, I have worked for the Air Force Weapons Labs, the State of New Mexico, and Sandia National Labs. I programmed computers all those years starting at the lowest level at the Air Force Weapons Labs and progressing to Principal Member of Technical Staff (PMTS) at Sandia where I led small teams developing enterprise web database applications.

In 2019 Sandia rewarded me with the "FY18 Top 3 Improvements Recognition Award - Team Lead." Of course my team members were recognized for their roles as well.

As a software developer for several decades, I know that I can write code to implement just about any algorithm you can think of. I also know that I can make mistakes which can lead to erroneous results. So, I have always had doubts about our voting systems.

Several years ago, when I cast my vote at an early vote center, I asked the people at the tabulator how I can know that my vote was recorded as I intended. One of the nice people responded with “did you hear the ding?” I responded “yes I heard the ding” which would indicate that my ballot was registered. However, my question is how can I know that my votes were cast as I intended them to be cast? A second person at the tabulator responded that I can’t know. This was an honest answer.

Now that I have had the opportunity to investigate how the tabulators are used in Bernalillo County, I have a much better answer. We may not be able to know directly how our vote was cast but there are measures in place to detect faulty tabulators during the counting process so we can have confidence that our votes are counted as intended.

Please keep in mind that we the people can monitor and participate in elections and I strongly encourage everyone to do so. Please contact me if you need more information on how to participate.

I realize the County Clerk's office is more than just elections. I believe my MBA and decades of experience in understanding, adjusting, and automating business systems, in addition to leading technical teams, gives me the ability to appreciate and lead staff in all aspects of County Clerk services.

While I believe the County Clerk’s office is doing great work, it is always a good idea to review and improve administrative processes. This applies to our election systems as well as all other functions of the clerk’s office.

Given the requirements of the job and my relevant background and experience, I believe I am the best candidate for the County Clerk position. Please consider voting for me.

Thank you!

Effective Use of Campaign Resources

Your donations will be used mostly for mailing flyers to those who share our commonsense values. In addition, your donations will be used to cover basic costs of a good social media presence on multiple platforms, including prudent advertising.

Some like-minded voters have a low propensity to vote. We will reach out to these voters and encourage them to participate. Absentee ballots might be a good alternative for those voters.

There are registered voters who do not want to hear from people with our viewpoints. I have data that shows me clearly who they are. There are a vast majority of voters across all party lines who will vote for me. I will focus my time and your resources on the people who will vote for me if I reach out to them rather than wasting my time and your resources bothering those people who do not want to hear from us.

We all know that volunteers are crucial to campaigning. I appreciate every volunteer and I promise to make the most effective use of your valuable time!