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Berry poses with supporters at his campaign party
Will Martin Chavez win a third consecutive term as mayor? Or will Richard Berry or Richard Romero knock him out?
City councilors Michael Cadigan and Isaac Benton are up against tough challengers, and some say how their elections go will determine how Albuquerque grows in future years.
If you’re on pins and needles waiting to learn the answers to who wins and who loses — because aren’t we all political junkies? — enlightenment may be less than 24 hours away.
The polls opened today at 7 a.m. and they will close at 7 p.m. We’ll have updates on this page throughout the day and night, so check back frequently!
UPDATES
11:32 Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele just sent out a statement congratulating state Representative Richard “R.J.” Berry for his victory in Tuesday’s Albuquerque mayoral election.
10:19 NMI is reporting live from the Berry campaign HQ after an hour without Internet at O’Niell’s, where Mayor Martin Chavez made a speech that came very, very close to being a concession speech. At this point, Berry leads with 42 percent to Chavez’s 35 percent. Richard Romero has 22 percent of the unofficial vote count.
8:48 p.m. With 26 percent of precincts reporting, Berry continues to lead with 39.24 percent; Chavez has 35.55 percent and Romero has 25 percent.
7:51 p.m. The tally of early and absentee votes combined shows Berry with 41.62 percent, Chavez with 36.03 percent and Romero with 22.18 percent.
7:33 p.m. Early votes in the City Council races show Daniel Lewis leading incumbent Michael Cadigan in District 5; and incumbent Isaac Benton leading Alan Armigo in District 3.
7:18 p.m. The polls are closed and NMI is camped out downtown in the Albuquerque City Council chambers, the official vote count headquarters. The first numbers released were the count for early voting, which ended last Friday. The tally shows Richard “R.J.” Berry leading the mayoral race with 40.85 percent of the vote. Richard Romero has 23.76 percent and Mayor Martin Chavez has 35.19 percent of the early vote.
6:06 p.m. Common Cause volunteers are reporting that its gotten pretty slow at most polling locations. Less than an hour to go!
5:26 p.m. An hour and a half until the polls close. According to a Tweet from KOAT-TV, “about 11,000 people voted early; about 9,000 voters sent in absentee ballots.”
2:59 p.m. How’s the voting going so far? KRQE.com reported midday that there were few problems and a steady stream of voters at polling places. We’ve been soliciting reports from readers. Here are a few:
Jenny: Went to Wells Park Community Center over lunch and it was smooth like buttah. I was #96 at about 1:15. Seemed quiet but pretty steady.
Kelly: Quiet at Bandelier Elementary school, polling place of at least three precincts. I was #151 at shortly before 2 p.m.
Kristen: I was voter #69 at Highland High this morning around 11:15 or so. No problems with the machines except for the dude who filled in the “Richard Romero” circle and additionally wrote-in Richard Romero. For some reason the machine didn’t like that.
Eric: As I fed my ballot in about an hour ago, the machine said I was #56, and my district is Nob Hill. There were a lot of early vote stamped names on the district sheet though.
Corey: Quiet, but I went super early.
11:18 a.m. Common Cause Executive Director Steven Robert Allen reports that despite some problems with ballot machines, voting seems to be progressing smoothly:
Common Cause has volunteers deployed throughout the city to monitor polling locations. A lot of polling sites seem to be fairly busy (for a city election). Several polling locations have experienced problems feeding the paper ballots into the machines. According to the county, about 12 scanners total have experienced this problem. About six of these have been successfully recalibrated to read the ballots. For the rest, ballots are being fed into the emergency bin on the machine and will be hand-tallied later.
Election Resources
In order to vote today, you must have been registered with the Bernalillo County Clerk by September 8. You can check to see if you’re registered on the Secretary of State’s Web site.
Educate yourself on the issues. You can view a sample ballot here. The League of Women Voters’ election guide has comprehensive information about the proposed charter amendments, the one-quarter cent transportation tax, the proposed general obligation bonds and the candidates for mayor and candidates for City Council.
Weekly Alibi has an online election guide, which includes a print ‘n’ save short list of endorsements, as well as candidate questionnaires and interviews.
The Albuquerque Journal also has a brief endorsement list along with more detailed endorsements for City Council, mayor and ballot questions.
You also find out more about the positions of the mayoral candidates, Richard “R.J.” Berry, Martin Chavez and Richard Romero, on their Web sites.
KRQE-TV has a special section of its Web site where you can see candidates discuss the issues.
Make sure you know where to vote. You can find your polling place by calling 311 or using the “Where Do I Vote” tool online.
Bring your photo ID. Don’t forget that you will need to show a valid photo ID in order to vote; the ID must include a picture and can be a driver’s license, government employee badge, passport, student ID, credit or debit card (with a photo!), insurance card, union card or other item that shows your name and photo.
Report any problems. If you encounter any problems while voting, call the City Clerk at 768-3030 or the voter hotline of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law at (866) OUR-VOTE. After that, please let us know about your experience by e-mailing tips@newmexicoindependent.com.
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