The state Board of Finance today issued an emergency loan to Secretary of State Mary Herrera's office of up to $595,300 for the June 3 primary election. The money is to cover expenses including election supplies, poll worker and judge training, and voter information cards. 

Gov. Bill Richardson's office put out the news about the loan.

"I am keeping my promise to the Secretary of State that we will work with her to ensure that her office has adequate resources and they are prepared to run a smooth primary election," Richardson said in a statement. "The public expects fair and accurate election results in a timely manner - as they should."
 
Having covered city, county and state elections in New Mexico since 1998, I  doubt the extra money is a guarantee of timeliness or accuracy, but it's at least a step in the right direction to have elections funded up front. And, who knows, it might help us avoid the embarassing election nights our state has seen in years past.

Not to be smug or anything -- because I'm truly glad to see the SOS has the money she needs -- but how did we get to this emergency situation? We've all known for months that the June 3rd primary will be June 3rd, right?