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Overwhelming interest surprises New Mexico Democrats
Polling places
Voting in today's New Mexico Democratic Presidential Preference Caucus begins at noon and continues until 7 p.m.
The election is using consolidated precincts, meaning voters may have to cast ballots at a different site than usual.
If you don't know your precinct number, visit the Secretary of State's Office site and click on the link to Voterview.
Once you know your precinct number, go to New Mexico Democratic Party site and match your precinct to the correct polling place.
Party officials expect preliminary results to be available by 8:30 p.m., though final certified results won't be ready until Feb. 15.
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There was a time when state Democratic Party leaders thought turnout for today's presidential caucus would be low.
They thought far fewer voters would cast ballots today than the 100,000 who did so in 2004.
But that was last week.
"I really don't have a prediction in terms of numbers," Brian Colón, the state party's chairman, said Monday. "It's certainly going to be greater than I anticipated."
About 35 people were standing in line waiting for polls to open inside Apache Elementary School shortly before noon this morning.
The voters at Apache, 12800 Copper Ave. N.E., included Ellis McClellan, a World War II and Korean War veteran.
"I spent 23 years, one month and 17 days so you and I can stand here today," said McClellan, whose son recently returned from a third tour in Iraq.
At Douglas MacArthur Elementary in the North Valley, approximately 80 people were waiting as the polls opened at noon.
"I think it's phenomenal," said caucus judge Jennifer Conn. "We had to turn people away because they got here two hours early."
Rising expectations for turnout come on the heels of visits last week by the two remaining candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and their high-profile surrogates, former President Clinton and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
Obama's appearances in Albuquerque and Santa Fe on Friday drew crowds of about 6,000 in each city. Hillary Clinton filled the Highland High School gym with more than 3,000 people Saturday.
Interest is so high that the New Mexico Democratic Party site, where voters can go to find their polling places, was overwhelmed at times Monday morning by too many users, Colón said.
"I've been watching my Web site go up and down all morning," Colón said Monday. "We're just getting thousands of hits."
The party received about 5,500 requests for absentee ballots.
The real driving force is the unexpected high level of interest from both candidates for New Mexico's 38 delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
"I couldn't have anticipated this focus from the presidential campaigns, and it's certainly driven the masses to focus on this election," Colón said.
And though the election is being administered by the Democratic Party, the Bernalillo County Clerk's Office is also getting flooded with voter questions.
"We're getting a lot of calls because people don't know what precinct they're in," County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver said. "We do expect there to be a lot of phone traffic (today), so we will be out in full force."
