Early Voting Breaks Records With More Republicans Voting Early;  Democrats Still Outpace Republicans; If You Have Not Already, Please Vote!

Approximately 48.2% of New Mexico registered voters have already cast a ballot  in the 2025 general election. According to the Secretary of State’s office, 663,874 votes were cast via early or absentee voting before early voting ended on Saturday. The 663,874 figure is lower than four years ago when roughly 785,000 votes were cast early in 2020. In 2020, 928,230 votes, representing 68.7% of all registered voters, were cast in the 2020 general election. Notwithstanding, a strong Election Day turnout will likely propel the state past 2020 turnout levels.

Saturday, November 2, was the last day of early voting in New Mexico before Tuesday’s November 5 general election.  A record number of New Mexicans had already cast their votes.  Approximately 41% of New Mexicans or 563,000 voters had participated in absentee or early voting, with 47.1% registered as Democrat, 36.7% registered as Republican and 15% registered as independent or decline to state.

Bernalillo County posted one of the highest early vote turnout rates in New Mexico this year, as more than 60% of registered Democrats and Republicans alike in the state’s most populous county voted before Election Day.  Other counties with high turnout rates so far include Santa Fe, Valencia, Sandoval and Los Alamos, where 68% of registered Democrats have already voted.

Republicans voted at a slightly higher rate than Democrats statewide, as about 55.9% of registered Republicans cast their votes before Election Day compared to roughly 52.1% of Democrats. Democrats still cast about 64,000 more votes than Republicans statewide, since Democrats entered this year’s general election with a significant voter registration advantage.

According to Secretary of State’s Office, of the state’s more than 1.3 million registered voters, about 42.9% are Democrats and 31.6% are Republicans. The remaining voters either declined to state a party affiliation, are registered Libertarians or are affiliated with a minor political party.

Brian Sanderoff, President of Research & Polling Inc.,  which does polling for the Albuquerque Journal, had this to say about the early voting trends:

“Perhaps the most interesting thing we’ve seen thus far is that Republicans are voting at a higher rate than Democrats, showing that 47.5% of the Republicans have already voted, compared to 45% of the Democrats and 26% of the independents. … So Republicans are voting at a higher rate than Democrats who have voted thus far. … Among the people who vote, more will have voted before Election Day than on Election Day. … People in New Mexico have become very accustomed to voting before Election Day.”

Counties with legislative battles are more likely to vote in higher numbers.  Sanderoff said this:

“Sometimes legislative battles can drive competition.  The legislators are at ground zero, they’re knocking on the doors there, and they can really play a much more efficient role in driving turnout.”

Voters who still have an absentee ballot can drop it off at any polling location.  The ballot must be delivered by 7 p.m. on Election Day. You can track the status of your absentee application or ballot through the Secretary of State’s Ballot Scout module at sos.nm.gov/trackmyballot.

The link to relied upon or quoted news sources are here:

https://www.sos.nm.gov/sos-static/election-day-november-5-2024.html

https://www.abqjournal.com/election/new-mexico-readies-for-election-day-with-more-than-663-000-votes-already-cast/article_3343d236-9adb-11ef-880f-bb7daed10aab.html#tncms-source=home-featured-7-block

https://www.abqjournal.com/election/early-voting-ends-saturday-heres-what-you-need-to-know/article_7fd7c6a0-9867-11ef-80d7-57b2b77a5d37.html

https://www.krqe.com/news/politics/us-elections-united-states/early-voting-wraps-up-in-new-mexico/

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

The political day of reckoning is finally here. The most contentious and closest race for United States President will finally come to an end. With any luck, we will no longer have to endure the crude, unhinged campaign behavior, and repeated nasty lies of a politcal dotard that has a cult following.

New Mexicans can take great comfort that as of today, November 5, gone will be all the nasty, negative political ads, especially those repeatedly aired by Democrat Gabe Vasquez and  Republican Yvette Herrell attacking each other. We will finally stop having to see and hear Herrell say with a smirk on her face “I wish we could have ended all abortions in this state”.  With any luck we will not be hearing from her ever again.

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About

Pete Dinelli was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is of Italian and Hispanic descent. He is a 1970 graduate of Del Norte High School, a 1974 graduate of Eastern New Mexico University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and a 1977 graduate of St. Mary's School of Law, San Antonio, Texas. Pete has a 40 year history of community involvement and service as an elected and appointed official and as a practicing attorney in Albuquerque. Pete and his wife Betty Case Dinelli have been married since 1984 and they have two adult sons, Mark, who is an attorney and George, who is an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Pete has been a licensed New Mexico attorney since 1978. Pete has over 27 years of municipal and state government service. Pete’s service to Albuquerque has been extensive. He has been an elected Albuquerque City Councilor, serving as Vice President. He has served as a Worker’s Compensation Judge with Statewide jurisdiction. Pete has been a prosecutor for 15 years and has served as a Bernalillo County Chief Deputy District Attorney, as an Assistant Attorney General and Assistant District Attorney and as a Deputy City Attorney. For eight years, Pete was employed with the City of Albuquerque both as a Deputy City Attorney and Chief Public Safety Officer overseeing the city departments of police, fire, 911 emergency call center and the emergency operations center. While with the City of Albuquerque Legal Department, Pete served as Director of the Safe City Strike Force and Interim Director of the 911 Emergency Operations Center. Pete’s community involvement includes being a past President of the Albuquerque Kiwanis Club, past President of the Our Lady of Fatima School Board, and Board of Directors of the Albuquerque Museum Foundation.