Early voting begins locally

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — The county election office here was swamped on Tuesday, the first day for early and absentee voting for the Nov. 4 general election.

A total of 129 people voted on the first day, indicating to county election officials that there was a great deal of interest in this coming election. By Wednesday, the turnout had slowed down somewhat but by 4 p.m., the early voting total had reached 210.

Another indication of just how much interest there is in this election can be seen with the total voter registration, which is a record and could reach near 38,000.

The deadline for registering is over and by 10 a.m., the election office had 37,510 names in its computers and election Director Rick Palochak said his staff still had a couple of hundred more names to put in the computers.

Of the 37,510, Democrats still command a big lead with 24,157 people, or 64 percent, naming themselves a member of that party. Republicans had 6,339, or 17 percent; and another 6,436, or 17 percent, decided not to declare themselves affiliated with any party and 578 said they were members of the Green or other minority parties.

Palochak said his office is planning to be spreading the word in the coming days promoting early voting on local radio stations not only in English but the other three main languages of the county — Navajo, Spanish and Zuni.

Persons who do vote early will be getting a sticker they can put on the lapel announcing that they “voted early,” a strategy to pass the word that early voting is available in Gallup and at the Thoreau branch.

But the interest isn’t only here in the county. The Navajo Election Office is also reporting a record registration of more than 116,000 and early voting is also underway for the chapter elections on the reservation.

The Republican Party on the reservation is holding a grand opening today at 5 p.m. of its headquarters in Shiprock. The headquarters will be located just east of the Shiprock Bridge and U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici is the scheduled main speaker.

Back here in Gallup, about 20 prominent Democrats — and a few staunch Republicans — showed up at a fundraising party for George Munoz, the Democratic candidate for State Senate District 4 who is facing Republican challenger Beatrice l. Woodward in the general election.

Ben Lujan, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Rep. District 3, had planned to be there but had to cancel.

Michael Sanchez, D-Valencia County, who is the Senate Majority Floor Leader, did make it, saying he wanted to come to assist Munoz in his effort since he felt Munoz “would be a major asset to the senate if he is elected.”