Dedicated to New Mexico

I'm Clay Pryor. 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 in Des Moines Iowa working for IBM after I earned my MBA from UNM's Robert O. Anderson School of Management.

I spent most of my youth near the Rio Grande Bosque in the last house on the west end of Candelaria Road. My grandfather, who came to New Mexico with the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, used to say "They get tougher and tougher as you go down the road and we live in the last house." He was once a Colorado Sheriff and he also told me "Never run from the police because they will shoot you." Recently several of my cousins and I were sharing memories about him. Interestingly, I am the only one he ever said that to. I guess he might have had some doubts about me at the time.

The house is gone now and the property is part of the Rio Grande Nature Center. It was a small farm, only 10 acres, but there was plenty of work for a young boy. We could be described as tenant farmers because we did not own the land and were granted a significantly discounted rent for keeping the land in agricultural use. We raised cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, and more. My step father, who at one time was a rodeo cowboy, also owned and boarded quarter horses.

My step father was a proud member of the local Iron Worker's Union. The union provided us with health benefits that we would not have had otherwise. These health benefits paid off when I got shot in the eye at 13 years of age by a stranger on the ditch bank at the west end of Campbell road. This injury resulted in cataract surgery a year later and many years of suffering and a few more surgeries due to permanent damage to my eye. Although I recovered much of the vision in that eye, it is still sensitive to light to this day.

About seven of the ten acres was an alfalfa field. I cleaned and tended the irrigation ditches and my step father operated the farming equipment. I also helped with bringing the bales of alfalfa in from the field. It was hard work but it made me very strong for a scrawny little country boy. We were a bit unique in that we we were right on the edge of town and in the same neighborhood as "city" kids who were my friends. I did not mingle much with other "country boys."

I attended Griegos Elementary, Garfield Junior High, and of course, Valley High School. Most would consider us poor folk and I studied hard in school hoping to make a better life for myself. This is not the path for everyone but it was the best path for me at the time. Because of my grades I was awarded a UNM Presidential Scholarship. In addition, because of my grades and obstacles that I had overcome, I was awarded a 4 year scholarship through Sandia National Labs.

The best thing that happened to me in college was meeting Michelle Riboni. She was a "canyon girl" who graduated from Manzano the same year that I graduated from Valley. Of course, back then, the two high schools were mortal enemies but we were willing to overlook that little detail. Her family can be traced back for centuries in New Mexico.

While in Des Moines Iowa, we learned how unique New Mexico really is. One after another person we met in Iowa would tell us about their vacations to New Mexico and how wonderful our state is. We realized that as native New Mexicans we knew less about New Mexico than those who vacationed here. As a result, when we returned to New Mexico, we spent our weekends and most of our vacations exploring this wonderful state!

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 awarded 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. I continued, "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 see the Causes tab on this page to learn more.

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.

Reference: Please see my LinkedIn profile, or my resume if you don't have access to LinkedIn, for detailed information on my education and experience. I believe you will find my education and experience to be most appropriate for the top management position in the Office of the Bernalillo County Clerk.