Close races drive early voting in some counties

In Santa Fe County, turnout is about average for Dems

Can you feel the early voting excitement?

Maybe you would if you lived in Bernalillo County.

Democrats in New Mexico’s most populated county appear to be driving turnout in the last week of early voting for the June 5 primary election.

By the start of Tuesday, about 2 out of 5 votes cast statewide by Democrats came from Bernalillo County, and early voters there appear on track to turn out in larger numbers than during the last gubernatorial election in 2014.

But elsewhere, enthusiasm for early voting is mixed. In Santa Fe, 3,113 Democrats have cast ballots. That means turnout would be roughly in line with 2014, when nearly 4,600 Democrats voted early for governor.

With Democrats choosing between three candidates for governor and Republicans picking a nominee to run in the vast congressional district that stretches across the southern end of New Mexico, a few races seem to be helping drive early voter participation.

According to the Secretary of State’s Office, 29,889 Democrats and 15,680 Republicans statewide had cast ballots. Early voting concludes Saturday.

And early voting among Democrats appears to be on track to surpass 2014 numbers in some areas, such as Doña Ana and Bernalillo counties.

In Doña Ana County, 1,961 voters had cast ballots, according to the Secretary of State’s Office, while about 2,300 in the Southern New Mexico county voted early for governor four years ago.

Meanwhile, in Bernalillo County, 12,276 Democrats had voted early — nearly as many as the more than 13,000 who voted early in the gubernatorial primary four years ago.

“The feeling I’m getting is there’s a whole lot of interest in the governor’s race and people are very interested in the congressional race,” said Bill Peifer, chairman of the Bernalillo County Democratic Party. “A lot of the turnout we’re seeing is driven by the congressional primary.”

Democrats in and around Albuquerque, New Mexico’s biggest city, are picking a nominee to run for U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s seat as she forgoes a re-election bid to run for governor.

Unclear is whether turnout in their home county could buoy Lujan Grisham and businessman Jeff Apodaca as they seek the Democratic nomination for governor. While turnout in Doña Ana County might bode well for local state Sen. Joseph Cervantes, the other Democratic contender for governor, polling has shown Lujan Grisham with a big advantage.

Political consultants wonder if that might be tamping down turnout among Democrats, with such a wide lead removing some of the urgency to vote early.

At the same time, some suspect there could be an uptick before early voting concludes Saturday.

Early voting began May 8 and expanded to more locations May 19.

Under New Mexico’s closed primary election system, voters must be registered with a political party to vote in its primary.

In the 2nd Congressional District, which stretches across Southern New

Mexico, state Rep. Yvette Herrell and former state Republican Party Chairman Monty Newman are locked in a battle for the nomination to succeed Congressman Steve Pearce, R-N.M., as he runs for governor.

Republicans are turning out in the largest numbers in Chaves and Otero counties. The latter is Herrell’s home turf. Early voting totals there had surpassed the number of Republicans who had cast ballots in the U.S. Senate primary four years ago.

But early turnout appears to be lagging in Lea County, which is Newman’s home territory. And in Doña Ana County, only 614 Republicans had cast ballots by the start of the work week, though more than 29,000 are registered in the county.

“Pathetic,” Otero County Republican Party Chairwoman Amy Barela said when asked about turnout.