Election night results from the secretary of state's office won't be tallied in Santa Fe. They'll be tallied by computers in the basement of a house just outside of Albuquerque. And not everyone is a big fan of the idea.
On a quiet street in Tijeras Canyon, near Carnuel, is an assuming home. It's where John and Sandra Ryan live and work as owners of a computer company called Auburn Seewolf.
Computers in their basement will be generating the unofficial election night numbers that people will be seeing on the secretary of state's web site after 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The arrangement is leading to suspicion among some voter right's groups on line.
Eyewitness News 4 tried to ask Auburn Seewolf if there's any cause for concern, but they wouldn't comment.
After several phone calls, New Mexico Secretary of State Mary Herrera explained why a home-based computer company is doing the state's job of collecting unofficial election night numbers.
"Right now it's cost effective for the tax payers. This is the best system to use right now, especially because they're unofficial results. They can't manipulate the system," Herrerra said.
She says the $19,000 cost to taxpayers is a good deal because the state doesn't have the money to buy and operate computers like the ones in the Ryan's home basement. And the secretary of state says there is no controversy because Auburn Seewolf only receives copies of official voting data from county clerks.
"Keep in mind, it's a duplicate file, not the original file. The original file is kept with the county clerks and the memory cards are kept with the county clerks and that is what we canvass with," Herrerra said.
Herrera says Auburn Seewolf has been doing election counts for the state since 2002, which is before she took office.
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