Wake up, Santa Fe! Today, June 5, is the primary election for offices from president on down. After the jump, find all the information you need to vote in this important election!
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First things first: The Santa Fe County Clerk's office has announced that this year, some polling locations have changed , so before you go vote in the same place as usual, check SFR's handy interactive map to make sure you know where to go .
(For that, you'll need to know your precinct number , which is listed on your voter registration card or which you can find out by visiting the Secretary of State's voter lookup system, VoterView.)
Second: Who to vote for?
SFR did a lot of research and conducted interviews with almost all of the candidates. Click here for our endorsements, and visit our elections page for more information and other reporting on the primary races.
(We also asked each candidate a funny question, so if you want to find out what Martin Heinrich's favorite movie is or the one thing Hector Balderas wishes he could change about himself , visit our YouTube channel.)
Third: Some races Santa Feans should watch:
- The race between
- Santa Fe Mayor David Coss and LANL staffer Carl Trujillo
- to fill retiring House Speaker Ben Luján's shoes in state House Dist. 46 may be a close one. The recent
- involvement of a super-PAC
- run by Gov. Susana Martinez adviser Jay McCleskey could give Trujillo an edge—unless it makes him look like a Republican in Democrat's clothing.
- Click here
- for SFR's prior coverage.
- US Rep. Martin Heinrich and State Auditor Hector Balderas
- are engaged in a
- very cordial battle
- to win the Democratic nomination for outgoing US Sen. Jeff Bingaman's seat. The winner will likely face former congresswoman Heather Wilson in the general election this November.
- The race for Dist. 3 Public Regulation Commissioner (that's Jerome Block, Jr.'s old seat, currently occupied by Doug Howe) still looks like a toss-up. SFR endorsed outgoing Santa Fe County Clerk
- Valerie Espinoza
- , but other papers favored outgoing Santa Fe County Commissioner
- Virginia Vigil
- . But the other two candidates,
- Brad Gallegos
- and
- Danny Maki
- , are still fighting. Whoever wins this Democratic primary will breeze through the general election without a Republican opponent.
- In state Senate Dist. 39, former Santa Fe County Commissioner
- Jack Sullivan
- has made much of incumbent Sen.
- Phil Griego
- 's use of campaign contributions, going so far as to
- file an ethics complaint
- with the Secretary of State's office. (NM Secretary of State Dianna Duran, however, has said she won't investigate the issue until after the election—which isn't very useful, is it?) Another challenger,
- Nicole Castellano
- , offers voters a third option.
- The race to replace outgoing Santa Fe County Commissioner Virginia Vigil in Dist. 2 pits former City Councilor
- Miguel Chavez
- against Agua Fría Village resident
- Gilbert "Dennis" Hernandez
- and lawyer
- Maria-Ester De Anda
- . Read SFR's pop quiz
- here
- and our endorsement in the district
- here
- .
Fourth: According to today's Morning Word, turnout won't be very high —which means your vote counts for more than ever. Get out there and use your voice!
Fifth: Results! Check back here at SFReporter.com for a live blog with NMPolitics.net and New Mexico Telegram starting around 6:45 pm .
A reminder: You can only vote today if you're registered in a major party (Republican or Democrat), since New Mexico primaries aren't open to independent voters.
