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Honesty, Integrity, Competence, Transparency

This page is from my 2024 run for the office of Bernalillo County Clerk.

We had a plan to win but obviously we didn't win.

Our plan was multi-part:

  1. Reach out to republicans who have not been actively voting and convince them to get out and vote. This was handled by the Republican party so we did not spend time or resources on that.
  2. Reach out to non-Republicans who DO vote and who most-likely share our values and encourage them to vote for us.
  3. Reach out to non-Republicans who DO NOT vote but most-likely share our values and try to convince them to vote for us.

So, what went wrong? I will be analyzing the election results relative to my strategy to find out for sure. Based on an initial viewing of the results county-wide, it appears that most voters (including those who do not belong to the Democrat or Republican Party) cast their votes strictly along party lines without regard to the efforts of individual candidates.

Why do I say this? The most striking thing I noticed in the results were the percentages of the votes for each candidate that seemed to be independent of candidate efforts to win over voters. There was some variation in percentages but not according to how much or how little effort and money the candidate put into their campaigns. Based on this observation I suspect party affiliation played the biggest, if not the only significant role in the election results.

I am going to look at the proportions of party affiliations for the voters in selected districts (county wide, Legislative District, and Senate District) to see if there is a correlation between the percentage of votes cast for each candidate and the relative percentages of party affiliations in that district. I already developed a tool for my campaign that will help me do that. I suspect that I will find a strong correlation.

Party leaders strongly encourage candidates to work their tails off knocking doors to convince people within and outside of their party to vote for them. This is independent of efforts to get out the vote. If I am right, the most-cost effective strategy for future candidates in a district where their party affiliation is in the minority is probably not to spend time or money trying to convince people to vote for them. Instead, I think the most-effective approach to winning elections is to spend time and money year-round convincing people to join your party and then get these people out to vote during elections.

So, what is a local candidate to do when the odds are against them? Unless our political climate becomes less divided, perhaps the only practical approach is to just put up an inexpensive web page where people who are already interested can go to learn more about you. That is it. Other than that, I do not think spending your time, your money, and other people's money trying to convince people to vote for you will change the results of the election.

An exception is a for a national candidate with lots of campaign money like Trump who can change people's minds. However, that will only go so far when it comes to immediate election results.

How can the Bernalillo County Clerk better serve you?

I am seeking ideas on how to improve the Bernalillo County Clerk processes and systems to better serve you the public. Please visit my Ideas page to learn more.

What does the Bernalillo County Clerk Do?

Please see Bernalillo County Clerk Duties (extracted verbatim from the 2023 - 2024 edition of the Bernalillo County Budget Book)

Why vote for me?

As YOUR Bernalillo County Clerk I will work to ensure the utmost level of accuracy and public confidence in our election systems and other business processes in the county clerk's office. My decades of experience in the optimization and automation of business systems will enable me to do that. My current understanding of how tabulators are used, regulated, and verified in Bernalillo County will ensure that the Bureau of Elections provides accurate, reliable and transparent election operations and results.

An essential part of transparency is to maintain a public presence ensuring that the voting public is made aware of election systems. We must clearly communicate a correct understanding of the processes in place and any issues encountered. We must present clear, correct, and precise problem solutions and process improvements. I have encountered first-hand the need to push back on the Secretary of State for transparency when ensuring current election laws are followed. We must also be willing to educate the public and our legislators if election laws need to be changed to better serve our voters.

My qualifications include

Thank you!

Why financially support my campaign?

Effective Use of Campaign Resources

In order to understand my chance of winning and what I can do to improve my chances, I built a model based on historical voter data and attributes of voters. I included parameters for estimating voter turnout of various groups. My model then uses the voter data and the parameters to estimate my probability of winning. The model predicts that I can win if I attract enough of the following voters:

I am targeting those voters with direct mail campaigns using a custom letter in envelopes rather than marketing materials. I send them out using my own marketing mail permit for a steep discount in postage. However, the volume needed to reach my target voters is greater than my capacity to produce the letters in-house. I need to use the services of mail houses who can produce my letters and my envelope design in high volumes.

I will also use campaign contributions to reach out to absentee ballot requestors once their ballot is sent to them.

Why volunteer for my campaign?

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!

If you only have a small amount of time available but would like to help reach out to fellow Republicans, please consider using the new Turning Point Action App. I put together a short tutorial to help get you started.

Paid for by Clay Pryor for NM