Voter turnout is higher than expected

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With 24 precincts yet to report, voter turnout is already unexpectedly high in the spaceport tax election. The county’s tally with 83 of 107 precincts reporting includes 14,787 votes. We know there are at least 400 absentee ballots, so that brings the total number of ballots up to at least 15,187. That’s 15.7 percent of the 96,435 registered voters in the county. New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans predicted this morning voter turnout of 10-15 percent. Continue Reading

County’s tally has tax opposition pulling ahead

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With 36 of 108 precincts reporting, and including early voting, Doña Ana County’s unofficial tally has spaceport tax opposition winning by about 3 percent. The county’s tally has 4,155 votes, or 51.6 percent, opposed to the tax, and 3,892 votes, or 48.4 percent, in favor of it. The county’s Web site doesn’t list the precincts it’s counted, so it’s impossible to figure out which precincts are included in both the county’s and my numbers. Because of that, at this point, I’m going to stop my count and rely on the county numbers. My newest total included early voting and 20 precincts, and was 3,567 votes, or 50.6 percent, opposed to the tax and 3,484 votes, or 49.4 percent, in favor. Continue Reading

Spaceport tax election now too close to call

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The election on whether to raise the gross receipts tax in Doña Ana County to help fund Spaceport America is too close to call. The total from early voting and 20 precincts is 3,567 votes, or 50.6 percent, opposed to the tax and 3,484 votes, or 49.4 percent, in favor. The new numbers I have, from nine additional precincts, are 831 votes, or 58 percent, in favor of the tax, and 592 votes, or 42 percent, opposed. Though 59 percent of early votes opposed the tax, better than 60 percent of the vote in Las Cruces has, thus far, favored approval. If this keeps up, the “Yes” votes will have it, but it’s still too early to tell. Continue Reading

New numbers: Tax approval gaining ground

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Though the early vote went against the spaceport tax, numbers I have from today’s vote are keeping alive the chance that the tax will be approved. I have numbers from 11 of 107 precincts. The total from those is 1,080, or 60 percent, voting for the tax and 729, or 40 percent, voting against it. I’m driving around Las Cruces collecting numbers from receipts posted at polling places, so most of those numbers are from inside the city limits. I’ve enlisted a few others to help me. Continue Reading

59 percent of early voters say ‘No’ to spaceport tax

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The majority of early voters in Doña Ana County voted against a 1/4 percent increase in the gross receipts tax to help fund Spaceport America. Of 3,819 early voters, 2,246, or 59 percent, voted against imposing the tax, and 1,573, or 41 percent, voted for imposing it. That total does not include as many as 571 absentee ballots that have yet to be counted. Spaceport backers say they focused on absentee ballots and predicted that most of them will go their way. Still, this is a big deficit for the tax to overcome. Continue Reading

Homans campaigns for tax in Las Cruces

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How many times do you think a New Mexico cabinet secretary has stood on a street corner 300 miles from the state capitol? I don’t know either, but I thought it was noteworthy that Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans spent the day here campaigning for the spaceport tax. I don’t know much more than that. Voter turnout in Radium Springs continues to be impressive. As of 6:30 p.m., 295 of approximately 1,400 voters in that area had voted, which is about 21 percent. Continue Reading

Las Cruces’ voter turnout really is spotty

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Doña Ana County Elections Supervisor Lynn Ellins’ description of today’s voter turnout as “spotty” appears to be appropriate. Turnout is consistently low in the north and south, but in and around Las Cruces, some precincts have ten times the votes of others. At 2:30 p.m., one precinct at Picacho Middle School had more than 100 votes cast, while the other precinct there had about 20. Though at 3:15 p.m. one precinct at Camino Real Middle School had 304 voters, one at the Branigan Library had only 28 voters by 4:30 p.m. “There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason or pattern,” Ellins said. He estimated that 10,000 to 12,000 people will vote today. Continue Reading

Voter turnout also strong on Las Cruces’ East Mesa

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It isn’t just the west side of Las Cruces that has strong voter turnout in today’s spaceport tax election. By 3:15 p.m., 304 people had voted at one precinct at Camino Real Middle School off Roadrunner Parkway, and 129 had cast ballots at the other precinct there. And by 3 p.m., 149 had voted at one precinct at Highland Elementary School off U.S. Highway 70. Two other precincts there had 84 and 68 voters. Though the numbers aren’t fabulous, in Las Cruces, at least, they appear to be better than expected for a special election. Continue Reading

Voter turnout high in parts of Oscar Butler’s district

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Voter turnout is heavy – at least for an off-year, special election – in several rural communities to the north and west of Las Cruces. Those communities all fall in the county commission district of Oscar Vasquez Butler, the most outspoken opponent of the spaceport tax. Whether that means those voters oppose the tax isn’t yet known. But county Elections Supervisor Lynn Ellins said there have already been 250 voters in Picacho Hills, more than 100 at a precinct at Picacho Middle School, more than 90 at Fairacres Elementary and very heavy turnout in Radium Springs. None of those communities are the rural colonias that make up the majority of Butler’s district. Continue Reading

Richardson leaves Sunday on North Korea trip

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Gov. Bill Richardson will leave Sunday on a trip to North Korea aimed at securing the release of remains of missing servicemen. The White House announced today that Richardson will lead a bipartisan U.S. delegation on the trip, according to Reuters. The group will leave Sunday and return Wednesday. Richardson and Anthony Principi, former veterans affairs secretary, will head the group. “Governor Richardson is pleased to jointly head, along with former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi, a bipartisan delegation of Americans to facilitate the release of remains of U.S. serviceman,” Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said. Continue Reading