Dear Members,
I am writing to inform you about an error in the printed Voter Guides for the 2026 General Election. You may be asked questions or notice that the guide has been removed from the Bernalillo County polling places. If you do, please contact me or relay the following factual information. We don’t want you to be surprised and uninformed.
The printed guide incorrectly featured a photograph of Nehemiah J. Vasquez, an independent candidate for District 5 of the Taos County Commission, in place of Larry Marker, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.
The error was discovered after the printed guides had entered production and could no longer be corrected. At this time, it is unclear how the error occurred.
The issue is limited to the photograph of one candidate. All candidate responses to questions were unaffected and were printed exactly as submitted by the candidates. No other candidate information was affected by this error.
Once the error was identified, the New Mexico Leagues acted promptly to correct the photograph in VOTE411.org and in all New Mexico League Voter Guide PDF files. These digital resources display the correct photograph. Please direct people looking for the guide to the online resources in place of the printed guide.
This U.S. Senate race was covered by the state League, the League of Women Voters of New Mexico (LWVNM). Hannah Burling, LWVNM President, is addressing the issue and serving as the primary point of contact. A press release was sent to various news outlets yesterday.
I called and explained the situation to the Bernalillo, Torrance, and Sandoval County Clerks and the Valencia County Bureau of Elections. The Bernalillo County Clerk's Office determined that it would be impractical to alter the large number of guides they intended to distribute on election day, I believe that number is somewhere around 5000. As a result, the office decided to remove the guides from polling places and instead post QR codes directing voters to the corrected online resources. Voter Guides are in polling places only with County Clerk permission. The Clerks are consistently great partners and I respect their decision.
We are all deeply dismayed and disappointed that this error occurred. The Voter Guide is an important public service, and producing accurate, nonpartisan election information remains a top priority for the League. To reiterate the only error in the LWVCNM printed Voter Guide is the picture of Larry Marker. Everything else is accurate and unaffected.
We appreciate everyone’s hard work, commitment, and involvement in producing, funding and distributing the Voter Guides. We recognize the time and effort volunteers contribute to making reliable, nonpartisan election information available to voters.
Despite this setback, the Voter Guide remains a vital part of the League’s mission. Our focus now is on addressing the error responsibly, communicating consistently, and strengthening our processes for future elections.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions.
Respectfully,
Starlyn Brown, President LWVCNM