With Rio Rancho's continually dismal voter turnout, Sandoval County has to look elsewhere for its success stories, and it has found one in an unlikely place.

Despite an uphill battle, the county's Native American Election Information Program has seen exponential increases in voter registration and turnout in one of the nation's most under-represented demographics, county attorney David Mathews said.

"Each year we're getting a bigger increase," he said. "It's more by leaps and bounds." In a presentation to the Sandoval County Commission, Mathews and his coordinators, Chris Lovato, Peter Magdalena and Pamela Sandoval, explained the program's highs and lows.

Mathews said he had one coordinator for each of the county's Native language groups (Jicarilla, Keres and Navajo), with the exception of Sandia Pueblo - Tiwa is the language of Sandia Pueblo - which has taken on the voter registration program itself and recorded 90 percent voter turnout in the 2004 election, Mathews said.

Sandoval highlighted the emotional benefits of the program's efforts. She told of an elderly, blind man she found standing in the middle of a polling place. The poll workers, she said, left him in the middle of the room to take care of himself.

Sandoval then took the man into a booth and read him his choices and the referendum questions.

After the man had cast his vote, he turned to Sandoval and said, "This is the first time I understood what I voted for."

Mathews said that getting the approval of the Native American elders when it comes to voting effectively overturned centuries of tradition and distrust of this American institution.

"The cultural tradition of not voting is so strongly engrained into the tribal leaders," he said. "The elders have so much respect."

Lovato hearkened back to a time when Native Americans were persecuted for exercising their voting rights.

At the dawn of Native American voting, Lovato said, those tribal members who took the drastic step of registering to vote had their land confiscated and suddenly found themselves being taxed, all of which contributed to the distrust that these coordinators are working to overcome.

Mathews, however, said the recent high numbers in voter registration and turnout for 70- and 80-year-old Native Americans have paved the way for successes with younger demographics.

Mathews said that younger Native Americans often have the attitude that "my father didn't vote, so I don't think that I should vote."

Because the elders have, in effect, given their approval through their own registration, those barely old enough to vote are also signing up to cast their ballots.

Because of these successes, Lovato said he wants to start even younger. Targeting the elementary and middle schools, although the students are too young to register, often draws the interest, and registration, of their parents and paves the way for the students to register when they come of age.

Because of county and NAEIP efforts, Santo Domingo Pueblo has seen an increase from 367 registered voters in 2001 to 717 in 2006, a 95 percent increase. At San Felipe Pueblo, the county added 178 new voters to the list since 2001.

In total, Mathews said, "We've got about 4,500 registered Native American voters."

Although the program has shown continually growing success, Mathews said he would never be satisfied.

"I'm not going to be happy until it's 100 percent registration," he said. "I don't have any qualms about shooting for an unrealistic goal; 100 percent registration is worth the county's money and the coordinators' time."

Mathews said that, regardless of how successful the program is, there would never be total voter registration among the pueblos. The reason: "There are always students turning 18; it's a goal to work for that can never be achieved."

Mathews noted another major achievement, the rescheduling of the local Navajo elections in 2004 to coincide with the November general elections.

The county's broadband project, Mathews said, could provide some hope for the future, as Native Americans see the effect the county government has on their daily lives. Mathews said the addition of limited health care, education and fire protection, all because of the broadband network, could help convince some to register.

There is one major setback for NAEIP. Gov. Bill Richardson vetoed funding for the program following the recently ended legislative session, but Mathews said that was no cause for alarm.

"The county's going to continue to support (NAEIP) 100 percent," he said.

In fact, Mathews said that he's about to hire 10 liaisons to the program, one for each of the Native American precincts.