Credit union political advocacy is getting a shot in the arm in New Mexico next month with appearances by the state's secretary of state at CU branches as part of a first-time voter registration campaign.

"It is fortunate that Mary Herrera is a member of a credit union and also attended the GAC in Washington," explained Juan Fernandez, vice president of government affairs for the Credit Union Association of New Mexico. CUANM is spearheading the voter signup project in July.

Ten credit unions in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces and in native American locales have signed up to staff voter information and registration tables in their branches. The campaign kicks off July 8 with a press conference at First Financial CU in Albuquerque.

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A key element of the campaign, said Fernandez, will be stopovers at branches in underserved, bilingual areas where the Democratic secretary of state, a member of Rio Grande CU in Albuquerque, has hopes of increasing voter turnout in both national and state elections. Municipal elections are held in many New Mexico cities in October.

Fernandez said the association hopes the attention to voter registration for the city elections in October can be repeated again in 2010 for the mid-term Congressional elections and that CU advocacy can benefit. Among state leagues, he said it is his understanding the New Mexico voter registration campaign is more expansive than others.

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