Nice to Know Someone Is Reading This Stuff

Earlier this week, I wrote a story for The New Mexican about how low the turnout has been for early voting in the primaries in Santa Fe County. As of Tuesday, only about 4.5 percent of Democrats and 3.5 percent of Republicans in this county had voted early or absentee.

But yesterday, county Elections Bureau director Denise Lamb emailed me that the day after the article appeared, turnout at the polling place at the County Fairgrounds nearly doubled, while the early-voting places in Eldorado and Pojoaque showed healthy increases also.

Lamb said poll workers at the fairgrounds reported that several people who voted there said my story was what sparked them to vote.

By the way, as a registered Declined to State, I don't have a dog in this fight. As I noted in the story:

Of the 17,085 people registered as "declined to state" (independent) voters and the 2,155 registered as members of other parties, exactly zero have voted early. That's because they aren't allowed to vote in the primaries, even though primary elections are paid for with tax money. Independents and third-party members make up 20 percent of Santa Fe County's registered voters.