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New Mexico News

Secretary of State Expects Good Turnout in N.M. Primary
Posted by () on May 23 2008 at 2:29 PM
NM News >>

SANTA FE — Secretary of State Mary Herrera says her office is prepared for the June 3 primary and she predicts there will be a good turnout of voters because of the large number of contested Democratic and Republican races.
"We're ready. We're ready for the election. We just want people to go vote," Herrera said Thursday at a news conference.
Early and absentee voting already is under way.
Herrera sought to assure voters that the primary will go smoothly and she vowed that it will not experience the problems that plagued the February presidential preference caucus, which was operated by the state Democratic Party — not the counties or the state. At the caucus, voters waited as long as three hours to vote and some polling places ran out of ballots, causing election workers in some instances to make handwritten ballots on scraps of paper.
Herrera and her top staff said the state had ordered an ample supply of ballots — the equivalent of about 150 percent of the estimated 1.1 million eligible primary voters — to ensure no polling place would run out.
"We will not run out of ballots. I feel real confident of that," said Daniel Miera, the bureau of elections administrator.
There are 680,281 registered Democrats eligible to vote in the primary and 432,875 Republicans.
"With all the candidates running for Congress and then the U.S. Senate, I really feel there's going to be a good turnout," said Herrera. She didn't offer a specific turnout number, however.
There are no incumbents in the state's three congressional races because they're running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Pete Domenici, who is retiring. Because of the open seats, the Democrat and GOP congressional primaries are crowded with candidates.
In recent presidential election years, New Mexico primaries have seen declining turnout — as a percentage of registered voters. The presidential nominees have been decided well before New Mexico held its primary and there have been few contested races for other offices in some election years.
Nearly 23 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2004 primary election, marking the lowest participation by New Mexicans in a presidential election year primary. A total of 187,821 Democrats, Republicans and Greens cast ballots.
In February 2004, Democrats held their first-ever party-run presidential caucus to try to give New Mexico voters more influence in the nominating process.
The previous low turnout rate came in the 2000 presidential primary when 28 percent of eligible Democratic, Republican and Green party voters cast ballots. Turnout was about 31 percent in the 1996 presidential year primary.
Because Democrats held a presidential caucus this year, there will be no presidential candidates on the Democratic primary ballot. Republicans can cast ballots for president although Arizona Sen. John McCain has nailed down the party's nomination.
Herrera cautioned that if some races are close then voters may not know who wins on the night of the election because provisional ballots are not counted until after Election Day and it can be a lengthy process of counting those ballots in larger counties. Provisional ballots are given to people who show up at the wrong polling place or whose name doesn't appear on the voter roster. Provisional ballots can't be counted until election officials verify the voter was eligible.
 

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