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Brandi DeLair is new to this whole voting thing, but she knows how important her vote will be in November.

The 19-year-old registered to vote for the first time during a Tuesday voter registration drive on Civic Plaza. The event was sponsored by the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office and was held in conjunction with National Voter Registration Day.

The Clerk’s Office also debuted its mobile voting unit, a rented 39-foot-long recreational vehicle that has been configured to accommodate two tabulator machines and nine voting stations, one of which is wheelchair accessible and another that is vertically adjustable. The RV will travel to 13 senior living facilities around the county so residents there, as well people in the surrounding communities, can early vote.

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“There are problems today in our country,” said DeLair. “Issues of what’s right and wrong, morally and ethically. Issues that concern LGBTQ rights, Native American rights, women’s rights, immigration rights and minority rights.”

The midterm election in November “is pretty important,” she said. “I feel like our country is in a dangerous spot right now and it’s important that youth specifically start speaking up and taking a stand for what they believe. This is our country and tomorrow it will be our job to make it better, and our job to keep our future safe. I believe that my vote counts and that my voice is important.”

Rafiq Bashorun, 31, acknowledges that he has not been politically active for a number of years. On Tuesday he decided to change that and registered to vote during the Civic Plaza voter registration drive.

“I decided to get back into it and make a difference and make sure my vote gets counted,” he said. “It’s just the atmosphere of the country as a whole and the way things are going, from the local level up to the federal level – I’m not impressed.”

In particular, he pointed to national issues related to “trade, immigration, and our relationship with other countries who have been our allies for years. I just don’t like the general direction of things.”

DeLair and Bashorun are certainly not alone in their desire to make their opinions known. Since the beginning of January, “we have processed 43,000 new voter registrations in Bernalillo County,” said County Clerk Linda Stover. “Either they changed their party, they moved or they’re new registrants. That’s a lot of people, so look out November.”

Stover said she has long entertained the idea of a mobile voting unit, “and as far as I know, it’s the first one in the country,” she said. The RV has been rented for three months at a cost to the county of $12,500 a month. It is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, was configured according to the county’s specifications, and adheres to state statutes for voting, Stover said.

The RV will travel to 13 sites around the county during the early voting window of Oct. 20 through Nov. 3. For more information on where the RV will be on which dates, go to the County Clerk’s website at www.bernco.gov/clerk.

Also in conjunction with National Voter Registration Day, volunteers with the Albuquerque alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority conducted a voter registration drive for eligible students at Atrisco Heritage Academy high school.