Democracy Alive in N.M.

A problem-filled 2008 N.M. Democratic caucus draws unprecedented crowds and criticism aimed at the Democratic Party

by ASHLEIGH SANCHEZ

On the first day of class, University of New Mexico Professor Christine Sierra asked the 48 students in her political science course, The Government of New Mexico, to raise their hands if they were not registered to vote.

Two hands went up.

It’s a sign of unprecedented levels of involvement in politics during this presidential election cycle, she said.

“It’s been fun and exciting, and the students in my class are more engaged than I have ever had students be,” Sierra said.

Growing interest in politics is not limited to UNM political science classes.

The 2008 New Mexico Democratic caucus, held Feb. 5, drew record numbers to the polls. But the election was anything but smooth, with too few polling locations and ballots and a tight margin of victory that delayed release of the final results for nine days.

Sierra said the caucus marked positive changes in New Mexico despite garnering negative press nationwide, Sierra said.

“It was absolutely wonderful in terms of turnout,” she said. “But it’s disheartening to have it not go well. It’s anti-climactic when you have to wait that long for results.”

Sierra’s class got an opportunity to learn the inside story of the caucus when Brian Colón, chairman of the New Mexico Democratic Party, spoke to the students during a March 5 class.

Colón has received a great deal of criticism over the planning and execution of the party-run election, and Sierra’s class continued the questioning during the visit.

Sierra said one of her students asked how the party could possibly have estimated voter turnout at 30,000, less than a third of the turnout the previous election cycle.

Colón responded that when Bill Richardson was still in the race, requests for absentee ballots were one-sixth of what they had been previous years, Sierra said.

When Richardson dropped out of the race, the situation changed dramatically, but it was too late to make polling changes, he said.

“I think his argument has some merit,” Sierra said. “That number still seems really low, however.”

The 30,000 prediction is less than one-third of the primary turnout in 2004, the last time the state held a presidential primary. That election drew just more than 100,000 voters.

According to the 2008 official results released by the New Mexico Democratic Party, total turnout was 149,779, a record for the state.

Colón was quoted in The Albuquerque Tribune on Jan. 29 saying, “I think we will have had great success in New Mexico if we turn out 30,000 to 40,000 people.”

Sierra said that regardless of the low turnout predictions, funding played a big part in the lack of organization by the Democratic Party.

“It went so well in 2004 because Bill Richardson was organizing and raising funds,” she said. “But this time, Richardson was running for president. Many of those pockets that paid in 2004 were likely tapped out by his presidential campaign.”

Another student asked Colón why it took so long to finalize and release the results of the election.

Results were not released until Feb. 14, nine days after the polls closed Feb. 5.

Colón said that since the race was so close, party leaders wanted to make sure they had it right the first time.

Hillary Clinton won the state, edging Barack Obama by only 1,709 votes, according to the Democratic Party official results.
Sierra said taking so long to release results is not unique to New Mexico.

“In tight races like this, it makes sense to take some time to be accurate,” she said. “California was still counting their votes, but nobody really focused on them. And we are a much smaller state—it shouldn’t take that long.”

Sierra said the close race was just part of the reason for the delay, though.

“Many people were forced to vote on provisional ballots,” she said. “Those always take longer to count.”

Provisional ballots are cast when a voter’s name doesn’t appear on the voter list, either by mistake or because that voter went to the wrong polling location, she said.

Many polling locations also ran out of official ballots, forcing voters to use provisional ballots.

According to official results, 8,404 provisional ballots were cast and counted.

Sierra said Colón didn’t address the issue of provisional ballots in her class, but that the students were nonetheless impressed by his direct responses to the question they did ask.

"The students liked him,” she said. “He was lighthearted, and my students really seemed to engage and relate with him.”

Student Amy Vigil said Colón answered many of the students’ questions satisfactorily, but didn’t address other issues.

“He was careful about what he said,” she said. “Sometimes it seemed he was holding back. It was interesting, though.”

The Democratic Party has taken most of the criticism for the caucus issues because the caucus was not run by the state, Sierra said.

“This was not the Democratic primary,” she said. “The state-run primary will happen this summer, and it will include local and state elections.”

She said the advantage of moving caucuses and primaries earlier in the season is that voters typically have more of a voice.

“They expected Super Tuesday to decide it,” Sierra said.

“This year, it’s so close that it’s still going on. It’s ironic. If the caucus had not been moved up, New Mexico would have been one of the last states to vote, and the nation would have turned the spotlight on us.”

Vigil said moving holding the caucus early was a good thing, but may have backfired.

“Moving the primary was helpful in recognizing the state and giving the people a chance to be heard,” she said. “In this election, though, it may not have helped.”

Sierra said she still favors earlier primaries because it usually does give a state a bigger voice.

She said a major disadvantage of holding the caucus instead of the summer primary is that many will not be as drawn to the polls, thereby reducing voter turnout for local and state elections.

New Mexico GOP Executive Director Adam Feldman said the Republican Party chose not to hold a caucus in place of the summer primary for financial reasons.

“It costs $300,000 to hold a caucus,” he said. “We felt that money would be better spent on local campaigns and elections rather than on one day in February.”

Feldman said the main reason that the election was moved up to February for the Democrats is that Bill Richardson wanted to make sure he won at least one state on Super Tuesday, though there were other reasons.

Whatever the reason, the early caucus was clearly popular with Democrat voters.

Student Lucan Hubbard said he did not vote last year, but felt he had to this year.

“I felt guilty, seeing what was going on in this country,” he said. “There’s a lot of us, other students, who wanted to get involved and say we had a hand in the democratic process.”

Feldman said the candidates themselves are a major reason for the large turnouts across the country, in both parties.

“You have great candidates on both sides,” he said. “That’s generating lots of excitement about the process.”

Feldman said this election offers many firsts that may be drawing voters, including the certainty of either a black candidate or a female candidate becoming the Democrat nominee.

The unprecedented involvement of citizens across the country coupled with the problematic Democratic caucus is giving Sierra a unique opportunity to reach her students.

“One has to do something a little extra to make state politics interesting,” she said. “This year, it was easy. In this election, no matter what happens, it’s going to be historic, and we are getting to watch it unfold

Written March 13, 2008

Go to Top