Voter turnout high in Las Cruces, around the state

Voter turnout in Las Cruces and most areas around the state is very high for today’s Democratic presidential caucus, forcing the state party to dip into its emergency reserve of ballots because some polling locations have run out.

Just after noon, when the polls opened, more than 60 people stood in line to vote at Mesilla Park Recreation Center in Las Cruces. A couple of miles away at Valley View Elementary – a location that usually doesn’t have long lines – more than 100 people waited in line.

Shortly after the lunch hour, lines shortened at some places. At Las Cruces City Hall, about 30 people were in line to vote just after 1 p.m. A few minutes later, about 40 people were in line at Camino Real Middle School. Other polling places reported very long lines even after the lunch hour, including Golden Mesa Retirement Home on the East Mesa.

Though turnout is lower in parts of Northern New Mexico because of snow, it’s very high in most areas around the state, officials with the state party and the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton said.

“It’s real heavy everywhere,” said Obama spokesman Trevor Fitzgibbon. “The word is that the turnout is off the charts.”

Because of the high turnout, Obama’s staffers in Las Cruces redirected volunteers to the Democratic Party to work at polling places instead of campaigning. As a result, Clinton has a more visible presence near polling places around the city.

Laura Sanchez, executive director of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, said the party had originally distributed 150,000 ballots to the polling places, but had thousands more in an emergency reserve in case they were needed. More than 2,000 of those emergency ballots have been distributed to polling sites that have run out.

Sanchez said the party initially expected to report results on its Web site fairly soon after polls close at 7 p.m., but the heavy turnout could delay results.

Some others are taking advantage of today’s election to gather signatures for their own races. Bill McCamley has volunteers at most polling places around Las Cruces gathering signatures. At one polling place, I also ran in to volunteers for Harry Teague and Tom Udall.

Polls are open until 7 p.m. Click here to find your polling place. Check back this evening for full coverage.

Here’s the line at City Hall:

Here’s a Clinton volunteer outside Camino Real: