UNM University Communication and Marketing (UCAM) have developed the "UNM Election Experts Site" to aid the media and the general public in being informed about the issues central to the 2012 presidential campaign.

While New Mexico isn't considered a "battleground state" this year, many issues being debated in the 2012 presidential campaign – from immigration to healthcare to economic recovery and more – are important to New Mexicans. UNM faculty experts explain and discuss the issues with the media and the general public who are interested in keeping up with the election.

The site elections.unm.edu, features video interview with several UNM professors sharing their particular expertise regarding the issues that matter to Americans in 2012.

This is the second political season for UCAM's election site. UNM's "Election '08" site was well received by the media when interest from news sites around the world focused on New Mexico. The site also earned second place nationally in the 2009 National Press Women Competition.

"We started this site in 2008 as a way to show the media the vast expertise of UNM's faculty about issues important to that historic election," said Benson Hendrix, UNM public relations representative. "This year we wanted to expand on that by providing information not only to the media, but also to the voting public who would want to know more about this year's issues."

Technological advancements since 2008 provide the Election Experts team a variety of ways to share UNM's information. In addition to regular video updates for the site, plans are in place to hold Google+ video hangouts with UNM's experts answering questions from the media.

The general public is also encouraged to send in questions for the faculty. UCAM will select one or two questions per week and identify the appropriate faculty to respond to them.

"We will locate the right experts who can answer a couple of questions a week," Hendrix said. He cautioned, however, that professors may not be available right away because of field research and the many demands on their time.

UCAM still seeks additional professors and graduate students experts who are willing and interested in speaking with the media and keeping their fellow New Mexicans informed about the important issues in 2012. Interested faculty and graduate students can email Benson Hendrix.

Media Contact: Benson Hendrix (505) 277-5920; email: bhendrix@unm.edu