Choices in Albuquerque, Santa Fe elections expanded

October 19, 2021 1:17 p.m.

Posted: Oct 19, 2021 1:17 PM

Updated: October 19, 2021 1:50 p.m.

• Susan Montoya Bryan

  FILE – In this October 8, 2018 file photo, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller speaks during a press conference at ABQ Studios in Albuquerque Oct.5 when Latinos from the conservative wing of the Democrats challenge the status quo.

• Cedar Attanasio

  FILE – In this file photo dated June 17, 2021, Mayor Alan Webber speaks outside Santa Fe City Hall as Latinos from the conservative wing of the Democrats are challenging the status quo.

• Adolphe Pierre-Louis

  From left to right, local talk show radio host Eddy Aragon, incumbent Mayor Tim Keller and Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel “Manny” Gonzales III take part on Monday, September 27, 2021 at the Albuquerque Mayoral Candidate Forum in Highland High School part of Albuquerque, NM The event was hosted by the New Mexico Black Voters Collaborative.

SANTA FE, NM (AP) – Nearly 13,000 absentee and primary votes were cast in local elections that determine the next mayors of New Mexico’s largest city and state capital, two weeks before election day.

The foreign minister on Tuesday released his first turnout in the November 2 consolidated elections for local government offices, including school boards and bond initiatives that affect local tax rates. More than 25,000 postal ballot papers were requested.

Progressive Democratic Mayors Tim Keller in Albuquerque and Alan Webber in Santa Fe are running for re-election in three-way races.

In Albuquerque, Keller competes against the Democratic Sheriff Manny Gonzales of Bernalillo County and the conservative radio host Eddy Aragon. The competition focused on concerns about crime and homelessness.

In Santa Fe, Webber is seeking a second term against Santa Fe Democratic councilor JoAnne Vigil Coppler and engineer Alexis Martinez Johnson, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Congress last year.

Although the local elections are impartial, registered Democrats dominate early turnout, casting about 60% of the vote nationwide, 63% in the Albuquerque area and 85% in Santa Fe County.

The state’s Republican Party leaders encourage voters to support politically conservative candidates for the school board and to question the influence of teachers’ unions.

The nationwide turnout in the 2019 consolidated local elections was 224,000, or 18.11% of registered voters, with only one major mayor’s race on the Las Cruces ballot.

The voting options were expanded on Saturday to include a large number of early election centers, which usually open around noon and accept voters into the evening, with some differences depending on the district.

The early personal vote lasts until October 30th. The vote on election day will take place on November 2nd.

Voting began on October 5th in the county clerk’s office and with the distribution of postal ballot papers that can be handed in or sent by post.

Registration of voters on the same day is possible during the early voting period, but not on election day. As of Monday, 224 people had used voter registration on the same day.