The map of New Mexico is a vivid reminder of what starkly different worlds we New Mexicans live in \u2013 one tight clump in the center of the state and enormous open spaces dotted with small towns.<\/p>\n
The map, in this case, was provided by the Secretary of State\u2019s office, showing the polling sites for early voting and Election Day voting for the recent primary.\u00a0 It is online at polling.sks.com. Save this link for the general election.<\/p>\n
We can\u2019t tell from the data how much early voting influenced our recent primary election.\u00a0 What we can tell is how much the early voting option was utilized.<\/p>\n
The numbers indicate that early voting was much more heavily used in Bernalillo County and other metro areas than in our sparsely populated rural counties.<\/p>\n
The early voting period this year was May 21 to June 4.\u00a0 By law, each county was required to make early voting available at the county clerk\u2019s office.\u00a0 Counties could also set up additional early voting sites.<\/p>\n
Several rural counties used only the clerk\u2019s office.\u00a0 Others had an additional location at a fire station or other public building. Most tribes had a site location at a tribal community center, but not all.\u00a0 Voters from little Picuris Pueblo would have to go to the Pe\u00f1asco community center.<\/p>\n
McKinley County had three sites; San Juan had five. Most eastern counties had only one site each.\u00a0 Lea County had five; Chaves (which includes Roswell) had three; Eddy had two.\u00a0 So for many New Mexico voters, early voting involved a long drive.<\/p>\n
For this analysis, I\u2019m not looking at who won but at the pattern of who voted and when.\u00a0 \u00a0(I did not analyze absentee voting, which shows far lower numbers.)<\/p>\n
The total number of Democratic voters who voted in the presidential primary was 216,075.\u00a0 Of those, 78,817 voted early; 13,734 absentee; and 123,524 voted on Election Day.<\/p>\n
That total is more than twice the number of voters in the Republican presidential primary \u2013 not surprising, since that race was decided in early May, before our early voting started.\u00a0 A total of 104,627 votes were cast: 36,091 voted early; 8732 absentee; and 59,804 on Election Day.<\/p>\n
The urban-rural difference was easiest to see by looking at the three Congressional districts.\u00a0\u00a0 In compact urban District 1, Democratic incumbent Michelle Lujan Grisham received almost the same number of votes from early voters as on Election Day \u2013 31,371 early; 32,380 Election Day.\u00a0 Ben Ray Lujan, whose District 3 is more-or-less the northern half of the state, had almost twice as many votes on Election Day as early;\u00a0 25,139 early; 48,000 Election Day.\u00a0 Republican Steve Pearce in District 2 had more than twice as many votes on Election Day:\u00a0 10,860 early; 23,417 Election Day.<\/p>\n
Legislature races let us see the voting patterns at a more local level.\u00a0 In most cases, the general rule held that in urban districts, the early voting and Election Day numbers were almost equal, and in rural districts, about twice as many voters turned up on Election Day as in the three prior weeks.<\/p>\n
There were wide variations in that pattern, but it\u2019s clear that distance matters and Election Day \u2013 with many more polling locations available \u2013 is still the popular choice for a majority of New Mexico voters.\u00a0 (The complete results are on the website at sos.state.nm.us.)<\/p>\n
More than half of the state House races and almost half of the Senate races will be uncontested in November.\u00a0 It remains to be seen whether this year\u2019s weird presidential race will draw record numbers of voters or discourage many from turning out.\u00a0 However, it\u2019s clear that voting on Election Day is still a community activity, a chance for neighbors to say hello and visit even if they grumble about standing on line.<\/p>\n
Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2016<\/p>\n
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