In the meantime, we can go ahead and compare the unofficial 2009 results—which Autio assured us won’t change significantly—to the 2005 results for a little post-election turn-out analysis. Two things immediately come to mind: the “Obama voters” didn’t come out, and the action was in City Council District 5.

Turn-out overall this year was only about 83,213 people, or 25 percent of registered voters. That’s slightly less than the 86,757 in 2005. What happened to the wave of voters who turned New Mexico solidly blue on the federal level in 2008?

Looking at the numbers, it’s clear that City Council District 5 was key to Richard Berry’s mayoral win last Tuesday night.

District 5 is the only city council district in the city that saw an increase in turn-out, from 9,724 in 2005 to 11,127 in 2009.  All other city council districts saw decreased turn-out.

We know there was a large measure finance committee aggressively urging voters to oust Councilor Michael Cadigan from office. And we also know that District 5 Councilor-elect Daniel Lewis ran a very energetic and aggressive campaign.

Cadigan didn’t take public financing, which may have been a strategic error. Because he didn’t take public financing, Cadigan didn’t qualify for matching funds when the measure finance committee targeted him.

There was also a measure finance committee created by the Republican Party to urge voters to vote against the quarter cent transportation tax.

We don’t have the data yet to show the party breakdown across districts, and we can’t say with certainty the Republican Party targeted that district. If it did, its message, and any get-out-the-vote efforts would have helped both Berry and Lewis.

There were 83,213 votes cast in the election, less than the 86,757 votes cast in the 2005 election in which Chavez won his third term.

Further down the ballot, the unofficial results show that in City Council District 3 Isaac Benton retained his seat against Alan Armijo, winning 59.37 percent to 40.63 percent. In City Council District 5, incumbent city councilor Michael Cadigan appears to have to Dan Lewis with 55.98 percent to 44.02 percent.

The only other race with two candidates on the ballot, in City Council District 9, featured city councilor Don Harris defeating David Barbour 79.22 percent to 20.78 percent.

All ballot questions seem to have passed.

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Berry now has 41.62 percent of the vote compared to 36.03 percent for incumbent mayor Martin Chavez and 22.18 percent for former state Pro Tem Richard Romero.

In City Council District 3, city council member Isaac Benton leads Bernalillo County chairman Alan Armijo 57.98 percent to 42.02 percent with 1,304 votes cast.

In City Council District 5, Dan Lewis is leading incumbent city council member Michael Cadigan 55.47 percent to 44.53 percent with 3,366 votes cast.

In City Council District 9, city council member Don Harris leads David Barbour 80.68 percent to 19.32 percent with 1,786 votes cast.

There were 20,251 early and absentee votes cast in the mayoral election.

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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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Harris responded to our post with information indicating that Barbour was a member of a Unitarian Universalist congregation, who gave a talk on atheism and donated money to a scholarship in honor of Charles Darwin. In addition, our original post suggested that Harris used a photo of Barbour, wearing a beard and a beret, that did not seem to match the clean-cut image on the candidate’s Web site. But Harris points out that he took the photo from a piece of literature created by Barbour himself.

In an e-mail to NMI, Harris wrote:

A candidate’s mail is certainly a fair topic of criticism.  However, I wish you had asked me for background.

Mr. Barbour, in both the League of Women Voter’s questionnaire and in the Albuquerque Journal questionnaire commented that he was on the Board of a “church,” obviously attempting to make himself look more mainstream than he is on such things.

Also, the picture is from HIS OWN literature.  His first walk piece is attached here, and on file with the City clerk.

As evidence of his allegation of Barbour’s atheism and support of an atheist group, Harris sent along several attachments to his e-mails. One appeared to be a printout from a 2004 posting to a Yahoo group, listing Barbour as a presenter at an a discussion entitled “The Importance of Being Atheist,” hosted by the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists.

Unitarian Universalists are among the nation’s oldest faith groups, dating back to 1793, and these congregations, although undeniably liberal, are generally recognized as “churches.”

Here’s the listing:

July 11

The importance of being atheist

Presenter: David Barbour

Coordinator: Stephanie Doucette

On July 2nd, 2003 Katherine Hepburn passed away. The world lost a
fine person, an excellent actress and a confirmed atheist. This
service explores Ms. Hepburnís life, the positive aspects of atheism
and the reasons why a Unitarian congregation is better off with some
atheists and humanists. Along the way we find out about some atheist
resources and what is happening locally in the atheist community.

David Barbour is a member of BFUU and the newest member of our Sunday
Program Committee. During the past year he led the BFUU Choir.

Another attachment appears to be a printout from the Web site of a group called San Francisco Atheists, on which Barbour is listed as being a contributor to a 2008 scholarship that awarded $500 for an essay on “the importance of Darwin to modern science.”

According to the printout:

The annual Darwin Day Party, also known as EVOLUTIONPALOOZA!, is one of the outstanding events hosted by San Francisco Atheists. It is a day devoted to honoring Charles Darwin and the Scientific Method, filled with fun, games, skits, entertaining speakers, and refreshments. Our efforts to attract more young people to the event has resulted in the establishment of a Darwin Scholarship Award. We have gained the support and backing of the City College of San Francisco, especially their microbiology and genetics departments. They are interested in such things as stem cell research, and feel restrained and frustrated by religious extremism.

The Measure Finance Committee RPNM No New Taxes is pushing people out to vote against the transit tax. RPNM No New Taxes is funded by the Republican Party of New Mexico.

Blogger Joe Monahan wrote of the Republican Party of New Mexico’s efforts in the Albuquerque mayoral race:

So will the state GOP be going all in during these final, climatic days? Not really, responds GOP acting executive director Ryan Cangliosi. He says the party is mailing out a piece urging voters to reject renewing the quarter cent transit tax for another ten years, but nothing directly in favor of Berry. But voters prone to vote against the tax will also be prone to vote for Berry. This way the GOP avoids triggering the matching funds provision for Chavez and Romero by not directly spending money on RJ.

According to the city Web site, RPNM No New Taxes has spent $10,350.19, up to the October 5 reporting deadline, all on mailers and postage for the mailers.

The Democratic Party of New Mexico, meanwhile, is working the phones. Its “Vote Democratic 2009″ Measure Finance Committee has spent $8,583.63 on GOTV phone calls, using a company, the Winding Creek Group, that helped propel Democrats Senator Tom Udall and Congressman Harry Teague to victory in 2008.

Most of the money, $6,434.10, has been spent on live GOTV vote calls instead of robocalls.

In the Democratic Party of New Mexico’s State of the Party blog, it says:

Know that even in a non-partisan race, voters can turn to their Party for information, and we will provide any information relating to the election in order to help you make it to the polls.

The Democratic Party of New Mexico wants all Democratic voters to go to the polls tomorrow between 7am and 7pm and vote either for Martin Chavez or Richard Romero.

Last week, a post in the blog read, “Albuquerque is a Democratic City and your Party thinks it should stay that way.”

The two parties are out in force, trying to get their base out for this non-partisan race.

In a mailer sent out last week, City Councilor Don Harris attacks challenger  David Barbour for being an atheist and political radical, recently moved here from San Francisco, who attends protests “even in foreign countries.”

According to his Web site, Barbour is a retired software engineer and Vietnam vet born in Pueblo, Colo. And the picture on his site? It’s not of a bearded guy wearing a beret.

The photo David Barbour uses on his Web site

Harris, one of the conservative members on the Council, sent the mailer saying “[Barbour] is a donor to Atheist organizations and speaker at Atheist events…” in what appears to be an attempt to rally conservatives in District 9.

But lefties don’t seem to be falling all over themselves to support Barbour anyway. After interviewing both candidates, Albuquerque’s alternative weekly paper, the Alibi, endorsed Harris, writing:

In his interview, challenger David Barbour offered a dearth of specifics when it came to his plans to improve this district. He says public transportation should be improved and buses should run later. But he opposes the quarter-cent tax that would provide at least some funding to make that a reality. (Harris supports the tax.) …Barbour’s goals are admirable. He wants a city that uses less water, relies more on quality public transit and builds greener buildings. He just doesn’t provide an adequate road map for how to get there.

That’s not to say it was an all-out love-fest. Alibi has some significant disagreements with Harris:

He says he doesn’t believe in penalizing people who use far more water during the summer than in the winter (as it stands, people are charged extra when their water usage exceeds their winter average). He also doesn’t think it’s a good idea to try to change the culture of huge lawns in Albuquerque. He’s against green building codes, which would require more eco-friendly structures. He wants to lower impact fees for new construction, which could make it harder for the city to build infrastructure since it’s partly paid for by those fees.

You can read the endorsement, as well as Barbour’s answers to the paper’s candidate questionnaire, at Alibi.com.

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