bernalillo county

The longstanding battle over who owns the state’s more than 1,900 voting tabulators – the counties or the state – appears settled, and none too soon with this year’s elections fast approaching. A bill Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law in recent days renders the fight moot, state and local officials say, by requiring the state to [...]

A federal agency is ponying up around $600,000 this year to provide upkeep for New Mexico’s more than 1,900 voting tabulators and voting machines.
New Mexico won a federal grant from the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission to pay the maintenance bill after Bernalillo County contributed $33,000, Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver told The Independent.

Politically, this bill will get more eyes than most any other bill this session, save perhaps the state budget. Over the next few days, many state lawmakers will review the over 60-some-odd page list of targeted projects to see if any of theirs is on it. The gyms, senior centers and bridges built with state money are often viewed as tangible evidence of what the lawmakers are doing for the districts.

On Tuesday voters overwhelmingly defeated a multi-year effort to create a new municipality in Bernalillo County’s unincorporated South Valley. Had South Valley residents approved the idea, the proposed “Valle de Atrisco” would have had a population of about 50,000. Proponents said it would provide residents with more representation and involvement in governance decisions, leading eventually [...]

A debate has erupted in Maryland over higher taxes levied against the state’s wealthiest residents, according to Stateline.org. It’s of interest here in New Mexico because raising income tax rates on the state’s wealthiest residents will be a major issue in the coming January legislative session in Santa Fe as state lawmakers wrestle with a [...]

Bernalillo County Economic Development Manager Dan Gutierrez told the Independent this week that his office has expanded.
Gutierrez has long been a one man show in the economic development department of the state’s largest county despite the fact that the county’s unincorporated area holds a huge chunk of the land still available for development in the [...]

The Bernalillo county clerk will hold a public forum this Saturday to discuss the 2008 general election.

Plans for a 39-mile loop through the western hinterlands of Sandoval and Bernalillo counties are seeing new life. Boosters say the road may one day relieve traffic; critics suggest it’s more of a valentine to developers.

Officials from New Mexico’s largest county lobbied state lawmakers this week in the hopes of expanding the county’s taxing authority to help raise millions of dollars. Its part of the perennial struggle that pits counties against the state in funding local jails

In tough economic times, it would be easy to anticipate that any measure on the ballot to raise taxes would sink. But New Mexico must love its Rail Runner. And voters must love libraries and parks and the bike paths in Bernalillo County too, because all the bond measures in that county were heading for [...]

Politico has a list of 25 key counties to watch for the presidential election. And two New Mexico counties are near the top of the list. Here they are, according to Politico:
3) Bernalillo County: Home to about one-third of New Mexico’s population, Albuquerque’s Bernalillo County is critical for both campaigns. Obama will likely carry the [...]

The Bernalillo County Clerk’s Bureau of Elections put a lot of effort into making sure Thursday’s mock election at five Albuquerque Public Schools was realistic. Staff members conducted forums at each school where several elected officials spoke, provided the real ballot and the official tabulator, and assured students that this was how the “real” voting [...]

New Mexico Democrats appear to be taking Barack Obama to heart. Through Monday, more than 132,000 registered Democrats had voted early or by absentee across the state, compared to 71,187 registered Republican voters, the Secretary of State’s office reported Tuesday.

In New Mexico’s most populous county, Democrats have utilized early voting more than their Republican counterparts. According to the latest numbers from the Bernalillo County Clerk, 33,752 Democrats have cast early ballots so far. This compares to 15,552 Republicans.
Overall, 57,052 people have voted early in person as of Saturday.

TruTouch Technologies, an Albuquerque high-tech company on the front lines of battling drunken driving, could lose a substantial contract with Bernalillo County after two of its officers apparently failed to disclose campaign contributions to Republican congressional candidate Darren White. A state ethics law may have been violated.