{"id":1557,"date":"2007-04-05T16:24:00","date_gmt":"2007-04-05T22:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/04\/spaceport-tax-supporters-exuberant-in-victory\/"},"modified":"2007-04-05T16:24:00","modified_gmt":"2007-04-05T22:24:00","slug":"spaceport-tax-supporters-exuberant-in-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/04\/spaceport-tax-supporters-exuberant-in-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Spaceport tax supporters exuberant in victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As it became clear this afternoon that they had enough votes to declare victory, spaceport tax supporters expressed joy and exhaustion after having campaigned so hard for its approval. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t slept for a week,\u201d said Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Kent Evans<\/a>. \u201cI just think it\u2019s wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Provisional ballot tallies from precincts 61 and 63 that came in just before 4 p.m. made it mathematically impossible for opponents of the tax to win. The results after the counting of those precincts give supporters a 253-vote lead with about 227 provisional ballots left to consider. They have 8,906 votes, or 50.7 percent, to opponents\u2019 8,653 votes, or 49.3 percent.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis has never been done before, and I am so proud of the voters of Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> for recognizing the opportunity that Spaceport America<\/a> presents and voting with their wallets,\u201d said Commissioner Bill McCamley<\/a>. \u201cA positive referendum shows the world that this community is ready for this industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Of 339 provisional ballots that have been considered, 203 votes, or 60 percent, favored approval of the tax, while 123 votes, or 36 percent, went against it. About 4 percent of provisional ballots have been disqualified.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cBased on unofficial results, the spaceport ballot initiative has passed,\u201d Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> said. \u201cThis positive vote for the spaceport ballot initiative means America<\/st1:country-region>\u2019s new frontier begins in Southern New Mexico<\/st1:place>. I\u2019m proud that the people of Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename> chose a high-tech and high-wage future, with better math and science education, and expanded opportunities for young men and women right here in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 5:20 p.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the statement of New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans<\/a>:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis positive vote ignites the final design, engineering and construction of Spaceport America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can now say that Spaceport America is ready for blast off \u2013 all systems are go. New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> is prepared to launch a whole new era of discovery, exploration and commercial activity in space, on the Moon and beyond. We have nothing but beautiful, black sky ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWinning this election was one of the biggest hurdles we faced when we proposed this project in December 2005,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of us involved with Spaceport America<\/st1:country-region> extend a major thank you to the voters of Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> for the confidence they have expressed in this project and our ability to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As it became clear this afternoon that they had enough votes to declare victory, spaceport tax supporters expressed joy and exhaustion after having campaigned so hard for its approval. \u201cI haven\u2019t slept for a week,\u201d said Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Kent Evans. \u201cI just think it\u2019s wonderful.\u201d Provisional ballot tallies from precincts 61 and 63 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1557\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}