Santa Fe County Early Voting Strong

There are several important items on the ballot for local voters, including some up-in-the-air legislative races and county bond and tax proposals.

The Santa Fe County Clerk’s Office tells us that, during early voting, 35,936 people (or over one-third of the county’s eligible voters) cast ballots.

However, there was a substantial decrease in absentee ballots this year compared with the presidential election four years ago, according to County elections chief Denise Lamb. In 2008, around 16,000 people cast absentee ballots. The county issued just 6,800 such ballots this year.

“I don’t know what the means, (if) more people are going to the polls on election day or if they transferred over to early voting,” Lamb mused.

The Santa Fe County-specific ballot items include:

-Three separate bond proposals: $19 million for roads, $10 million for water and wastewater projects and $6 million for open space, parks and trails.

-A quarter-cent gross receipts tax increase that would raise money for the county Fire Department’s capital needs, to be decided by rural Santa Fe County residents.

-Local voters are also technically electing three candidates to the Santa Fe County Commission. The races were really decided back in June during the primaries, however, and all three candidates are running in the general election as unopposed Democrats.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. A full list is in Tuesday’s Journal.