By KUNM and America Amplified
The 2022 Midterm elections are on the horizon – are you planning to vote? Do you know how to vote, and where to vote, and what you might need to have when you show up to the polls? What if your voter registration is out of date, or has a mistake, and you are challenged at the polls – what can you do? Do you have questions about absentee ballots? Early voting? Ballot drop boxes? Are you unsure who you can vote for following redistricting earlier this year?
KUNM and New Mexico PBS are part of a new community-powered journalism project to answer those questions and any other ones you have about how to exercise your right to vote in the upcoming midterms. Our mission is to provide you with the information you need to vote – we’re not concerned about how you vote, or who you vote for, we just want to make sure you are armed with the information you need TO vote and understand how elections are run and kept secure.
This project is part of the work of America Amplified, an initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to support community engagement journalism in public media. We’re also working with 28 other public media stations across the country to ensure that all eligible American citizens can vote.
Many states, including New Mexico, have changed voting regulations since the 2020 general election when concerns about the pandemic led to an expansion of absentee and mail-in voting. This time around, the rules are different, and, there’s a ton of misinformation and disinformation circulating about elections and election security — we’re here to clear things up.
Are these elections important? Arguably, every election is important. But this one could likely change the balance of power in our state and our country. You can’t sit this one out if you care about what’s going on.
“We do not have a government by the majority. We have a government by the majority who participate.” That truism is often - wrongly - attributed to Thomas Jefferson. But regardless of attribution, it remains true that you can’t change anything unless you choose to participate in the process.
We’re asking you to participate here: submit any and all questions about taking part in the upcoming midterms by clicking on the button on the prompt here.
You can also text your questions to us! Just text NMPUBMEDIA
to 855-670-1777 and follow the prompts to submit a question about participating in the midterm elections.
With help from our partners at America Amplified, we’ll answer the questions online, on the air and on social media. We’ll send the answers directly to you as well. If you share your contact information, we may even reach out personally. We can’t do this without you!
