![\"Las](\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/LasCrucesCityHall1-336x186.jpg\")
<\/a>Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>
Las Cruces City Hall<\/p><\/div>\n
With a campaign\u00a0season\u00a0that lasts just a few weeks, the trend in Las Cruces in recent elections has been for progressives and conservatives\u00a0to focus on turning out their most ardent supporters rather than engaging new or less-likely voters.\u00a0That has\u00a0contributed to a drop in voter turnout, said former District 4 City Councilor Steve Trowbridge.<\/p>\n
“The inside game is you just go for your people and don’t try to raise any alarms,” Trowbridge said.\u00a0“We’re not getting an airing of the issues and so, as a result, it’s not really a public decision-making process.”<\/p>\n
Voting trends may back up Trowbridge’s assertion.\u00a0Early voting has increased\u00a0in every mayor’s race since 2003:<\/p>\n
[visualizer id=”96466″]<\/p>\n
But overall voter turnout has dropped dramatically during that same time period:<\/p>\n
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With this year’s\u00a0election colored largely by negative attacks<\/a> and the involvement of an out-of-town super PAC<\/a>,\u00a0Trowbridge predicts lower voter turnout once again.<\/p>\n Voters don’t\u00a0see “a real strong contrast on issues” between the mayoral candidates, he said. The discourse in the mayoral race frames the conversation\u00a0for council candidates and can hamper their efforts to excite voters, he said.<\/p>\n “Talking to people and going around, I don’t sense much excitement,” Trowbridge said.<\/p>\n Jeffrey Isbell has a different take. A political operative working to help elect conservative candidates in Tuesday’s election, Isbell predicted\u00a0that a higher percentage of voters will turn out\u00a0this year than the\u00a018.86 percent who voted\u00a0in 2011, the last time the mayor’s office was up for grabs.<\/p>\n Isbell said the massive spending on the election by independent groups will help voter turnout — as will the fact that\u00a0incumbent Mayor Ken Miyagishima is spending tens of thousands of his own dollars<\/a> on his re-election campaign.<\/p>\n “There is not one active voter in Las Cruces that can say they didn’t know an election was happening,” Isbell said.\u00a0“It’s still won’t be a great turnout, but I would guess it will be higher than we’ve seen in recent municipal elections.”<\/p>\n Some\u00a02,795 people cast ballots\u00a0by the time early in-person voting wrapped up\u00a0on Saturday, according to the City Clerk’s Office.\u00a0The number of absentee voters isn’t final. But even without that total, the\u00a0number of\u00a0non-Election Day voters is already higher than the 2,671 people\u00a0who voted early and absentee in 2011.<\/p>\n The District 1 race between Eli Guzman and Kasandra Gandara is shaping up to be one of the most interesting on the ballot. That district had 622 early voters this year, according to the city clerk. That’s the highest number of any district in this election:<\/p>\n [visualizer id=”96498″]<\/p>\n Citywide turnout may be low. But Ang\u00e9lica Rubio, who’s managing Gandara’s campaign, said she believes there is higher interest in District 1. She’s hopeful there will be increased turnout there.<\/p>\n In Las Cruces, Rubio said conservative and progressive groups alike haven’t invested in turning out new voters in recent elections.\u00a0Gandara’s campaign is different, she said.<\/p>\n “People have intentionally strategized to just get out regular voters,” Rubio said. “Our approach has been to invite people who have never voted before, especially women.”<\/p>\n Progressives have dominated city politics<\/a> since 2007<\/a>. They’ve done it, Isbell believes, by effectively taking advantage “of the low voter turnout of low-key elections.” Those days “are over,” Isbell said. There’s a more active conservative counter to the progressive movement — and that’s why\u00a0he believes voter turnout will be higher this time and in future local elections.<\/p>\n “That’s a great thing for the voters and ultimately our democracy, even if conservatives don’t always win,” Isbell said.<\/p>\n Guzman didn’t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Dropping voter turnout isn’t just a local issue, however. If a higher-than-usual\u00a0percentage\u00a0of Las Crucens vote in Tuesday’s election, that would buck local, state and national trends.<\/p>\n Only 8.24 percent of registered voters went to the polls in Albuquerque\u00a0last month<\/a>. That was the lowest turnout in decades in that city.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s midterm congressional elections saw\u00a0the lowest turnout<\/a>\u00a0in 72 years\u00a0at 36.3 percent<\/a>. New Mexico was just above the national average in 2014, at about\u00a040 percent<\/a>. The United States trails almost all other developed nations<\/a> in voter turnout.<\/p>\n In Las Cruces, elections have changed dramatically in recent times. When\u00a0Trowbridge last ran for and won re-election, in 2003, he accepted no campaign donations and spent just $500 of his own money on the race.<\/p>\nDistrict 1\u00a0has the most early votes<\/h3>\n
Lower voter turnout is a nationwide\u00a0trend<\/h3>\n