Harding, Los Alamos Had Highest Voter Turnout Rate
By Barry Massey
The Associated Press
SANTA FE — Harding and Los Alamos counties had the highest rates of voter participation in the Nov. 2 general election, with slightly more than 82 percent of their registered voters casting ballots.
The lowest rate of voter turnout was in Cibola County, where 56 percent cast ballots in the general election.
According to county-by-county figures in the state canvass for total votes cast, 13 counties exceeded the statewide average turnout of 70.1 percent.
Of those counties, President Bush won in 11 and Democrat John Kerry carried two — Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties.
Greg Graves, executive director of the state Republican Party, said Bush's effort to turn out his supporters in the election — coupled with big margins over Democrat John Kerry in a number of counties — was critical for the president's victory in New Mexico.
"Our organization was superior statewide," Graves said of Bush's get-out-the-vote effort.
Harding County had voter turnout of 82.7 percent, followed by Los Alamos County, 82.4 percent; Union County, 75.1 percent; De Baca County, 74.1 percent; Bernalillo County, 73.7 percent; Colfax County, 73.2 percent; Eddy and Sierra counties, 72.8 percent; San Juan and Catron counties, 72.5 percent; Sandoval County, 71.7 percent; Santa Fe County, 71.6 percent; Torrance County, 70.7 percent; Valencia County, 69.9 percent; Luna County, 68.8 percent; Otero County, 68.7 percent; Mora County, 68.0 percent; Dona Ana County, 67.6 percent; Taos County, 67.1 percent; Quay County, 66.6 percent; Hidalgo and Curry counties, 66.5 percent; Chaves County, 66.1 percent; Lincoln County, 65.8 percent; Socorro County, 65.6 percent; Grant County, 65.2 percent; Roosevelt County, 64.7 percent; McKinley County, 63.6 percent; Guadalupe County, 63.3 percent; Rio Arriba County, 62.9 percent; Lea County, 62.4 percent; San Miguel County, 60.9 percent and Cibola County, 56.1 percent.
In each county in the state, there were more votes cast for president this year than in 2000.
Bush received more votes in each county than he did four years ago. Kerry exceeded vote totals for Democrat Al Gore in 2000 in all but six counties: Cibola, DeBaca, Eddy, Lea, Quay and Union counties.
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