Your vote.

It’s a basic building block of democracy. But as recent local stories about faulty or possibly fraudulent voter registration information surface, serious worries about whether elections here will run fairly and smoothly come Nov. 4 have already begun.

Tracy Dingmann

Tracy Dingmann

That’s where Katy Duhigg comes in. She’s the new voter outreach coordinator for the non-partisan government watchdog group Common Cause New Mexico, and she’s committed to making sure every New Mexican’s vote gets counted.

“My main goal in this job is to achieve a uniform application of our election laws and rules across the board, so that every vote is cast and counted,” she told me.

Duhigg, 29, was born and raised in Albuquerque, where her parents, John and Doris, are both lawyers. She went to the University of New Mexico School of Law and just recently passed the bar. “I don’t think you have to be attorney to do this job, but it definitely helps,” she said. “Our election code is complicated and having a degree in law is helpful in navigating that.”

Duhigg told me she sees her role as being an advocate—not only for voters, but for election officials, who are often unfairly maligned.

“Our election officials get picked on a lot. Generally, they are good people trying to do a hard job,” she said. Duhigg said she’s finding that often the biggest problem is that certain resources are needed —more poll workers, better-trained poll workers, for example – and Duhigg said she will be working to meet those needs in a non-partisan way.

Much of the time, election snafus spring up because of a simple lack of communication, she said. Duhigg said her first priority after starting her job on Sept. 2 was to meet with the secretary of state and New Mexico’s 33 county clerks, so they will know her and be more likely to pass along their problems in advance of the election.

Duhigg is getting help from some other quarters, too. Common Cause is partnering with several other groups to ensure fair elections, including the national election protection group Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, a non-partisan group formed in 1963 at the request of then-president John F. Kennedy.

That group has a Web site loaded with advice and information and a new national toll-free hotline, 1-866-OUR-VOTE, that any voter can call with questions about their voting eligibility, voting location or anything related to their right to vote, said Duhigg.

“They have a great team of legal experts and volunteers who will take any type of call and give live, immediate assistance to voters,” she said.

Recently, some voters in other states were allegedly told they would not be able to vote because their homes appeared on a list of foreclosed houses. Those claims are being investigated and most experts say that practice would not stand a legal challenge. “Folks could definitely call this hotline about the foreclosure issue,” she said.

The hotline also serves Spanish-speaking voters who dial 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA.

As part of the committee’s election protection plan, teams of local lawyers will available in various New Mexico counties on election day to provide in-person help for voters with more complicated issues, said Duhigg.

“Ideally, we would love to have at least one two lawyers in every county, and in larger counties, multiple teams. But I’m being very optimistic.”

Duhigg said she’s been working with local law firms, the Hispanic Bar Association and various law students to accomplish this goal.

“Overall, our main thing here is to help people,” said Duhigg. “We’re not here to find fault, we’re here to avoid fault.”