What a nail-biter
No parking – long lines – but Democrats tough it out

People wait in line after showing up at the Gallup Fire Station on the corner of 2nd St. and Nizhoni Blvd. Tuesday afternoon to cast their votes in the 2008 Democratic caucus. Many people grew frustrated with the long line and limited parking at the location. Rose Ferraii said she made little progress while she stood in line 15 minutes. Calling the situation "rediculous," she left the site without voting. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent]

By Bill Donovan, Kevin Killough and Helen Davis
Staff writers

Voters cast ballots at the Gallup Fire Station at 1800 S. Second St. Tuesday afternoon during the 2008 Democratic caucus [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent]

Hillary Clinton soared to a victory in McKinley County Tuesday, outdistancing rival Barack Obama in the Democratic Caucus.

At least that’s what the preliminary figures said.

“I think Hillary won,” said Mary Ann Armijo, former chairwoman for the McKinley County Democratic Party.

No official tallies were released Tuesday night and figures were provided for only three of the four sites where polling took place in the county. No figures were available for candidates other than Clinton and Obama.

County party officials said Clinton edged Obama 694 to 576 at the Gallup voting site. A total of 2,035 people voted; of that 571 were counted as provisional ballots, which will be reviewed over the next couple of days so that total for Clinton and Obama will probably change.

Clinton did well in the precincts on the Navajo Reservation, possibly because of recent endorsements by former Navajo tribal President Peterson Zah, as well as the tribe’s current president, Joe Shirley.

In Twin Lakes, Clinton beat Obama 224 to 163. A total of 510 people voted there. Crownpoint also reported a Clinton victory but no numbers were available Tuesday night. Early Zuni voting showed Clinton at 151 to 89 for Obama.

But at the only voting site in Gallup, the big question wasn’t who are you voting for, but how did you manage to find a parking space?

Democrats swamped the parking lot of the Southside Fire Station throughout the day, forcing the fire department to take steps to make sure they were able to respond to any major emergencies.

Lt. Joe Espinosa said fire trucks were moved out of the building to allow more people to stand in line. But they were situated in the parking lot in a place where they could respond to any major emergency. Minor calls, he said, were shifted to other fire stations.

The station’s parking lot was filled off and on throughout the day and at one point, he said, he finally had to shut down the parking lot because of concerns that someone would get hit. He called in police and they maintained a presence at the site throughout the rest of the day, directing traffic and helping drivers find parking places.

As the fire station parking lot filled up, drivers began spreading out to the small strip mall on the opposite corner and to the parking lot of Amigo Chevrolet.

Terry Proffitt, the owner of Amigo, said he decided not to buck the tide and gave over the front parking lot of the dealership to the voters.

Still, the wait was long.

Traffic was at a standstill and lines to vote in Tuesday’s Democratic caucus were long at the Southside Fire Station on Second Street, which was the only place to vote for city precincts and city Democrats who wanted to cast their vote.

Police were out directing traffic and a line of cars was backed up on Second Street crawling south for a mile as people tried to get into the fire station parking lot. Then, once inside, voters had to maneuver to the end of the line behind more than 100 people. The wait to vote was an hour or more.

The McKinley County Democratic Party Chair George Munoz said that only one precinct was set up for voters partly because they estimated the crowd based on the last Democratic caucus of 2004.

“Only 1,034 voted in that election” Munoz said as he tried to control the crowd and relieve some people’s anxieties. He only had a few volunteers checking roster names and handing out paper ballots. It was not enough to get the crowd moving at a reasonable pace. He added that only 88 people voted in the Zuni precinct in 2004, but that Tuesday there were 25 people just waiting in line to get in to vote.

The turnout was much more than they expected, he said.
Mary Ann Armijo, a volunteer at the caucus said that at 1:05 p.m. they had “400 to 500 people already.”

The polls opened at noon Tuesday, rather than 7 a.m., which is the normal poll opening time for regular elections.

Gallup resident Terence Gurley stood in the background, behind volunteers with a tag around his neck, identifying him as a Obama observer. He said he was volunteering for the Obama campaign.

But one potential voter standing in line was heard to say, “We’re democrats. We’re used to standing in line and waiting for things.”

Clinton supporter Joseph Harrison, who lives in the Baca Court area, said he had a 45-minute wait before he had a chance to vote. While it was cold outside, voters did find enough room in the fire station so they didn’t have to do any waiting in the cold, like Sandoval County, where the line was outside.

“If I knew it was going to take this long, I would have mailed in my ballot,” he said.

Obama supporter, Thomas John, at 20-years of age, said he didn’t mind the wait.

“This is my first presidential election,” John said. “This is my chance to make a difference.”

Brian Bernard, a Spanish teacher at Gallup High School, said he couldn’t understand why the city just had one voting site. It would have been a lot easier for everyone if they had more than one site, he said.

The reason for only one site is simple, Armijo said: Money.

The caucus is being run by the Democratic Party, something that county officials emphasized throughout the day as county offices began getting complaints from voters about how the election was being run.

Armijo said the county organization only received enough funds to set up four voting sites — Gallup, Crownpoint, Twin Lakes and Zuni.

She pointed out that the one four years ago was held in the Gallup Public Library and the parking problems there were so bad that the party decided to move it to the fire station, which had more parking and more room for people to stand in line.

But no one expected that this many people would show up, said George Muñoz, the current county chairman.

By 5:30 p.m., the county had run out of ballots, a situation that also occurred in Twin Lakes and Crownpoint, he said. “This was also happening throughout the state,” he added.
The voting in Gallup had to be stopped briefly to allow more ballots to be photocopied.

For most of the voters, once they made it to the front of the line, the time to actually cast their ballot was a matter of a few seconds.

But some had problems.

“We had a few Republicans come in to vote and we had to tell them that this was only for Democrats,” said Muñoz.

He also said the party had problems finding many people’s name on the registration list provided by the county.

If a person’s name wasn’t on the list, they had to get in another line, fill out a form that took several minutes and seal their vote in an envelope. These provisional votes will be reviewed in the next day or two to determine if the person did have a right to vote; if they did, their vote will be counted.

Cibola County
In early reports, Cibola County democrats strongly favor Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama.

Attorney Bruce Boynton, spokesman for the Cibola County Democratic Caucus, said the turnout for the election was remarkable, especially considering the reduced number of polling places and snow still affecting driving in many places. Approximately 2,000 Cibola voters cast their democratic ballots on Super Tuesday.

Initial counts in both Grants and Milan found the ballots running about three to one in favor of Clinton; Acoma voted two to one for Clinton; and Laguna narrowly favored Clinton over Obama. Pine Hill results were not available by press time.

Boynton said about 900 people voted in Grants, with some waiting in line as long as a half an hour. Milan attracted between 450 and 500 voters.

Two hundred and eighty voters cast ballots in Laguna and 170 in Acoma.

A final count will not be available for several days because provisional ballots must be verified before being counted.

Other counties
The turnout in other counties was just as strong.

“We surpassed expectations. People were very enthusiastic about this election,” said Emeterio Rudolfo, chair of the San Juan County Democratic Party.

In Apache County, Arizona, more than 5,000 voters turned out. Hillary Clinton appeared to be the winner, with 2,449 votes, to Obama’s 1,320. Gov. Bill Richardson, who dropped out of the race two weeks ago but was still on the ballot, received 173 votes in Apache County.

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney surpassed Arizona Sen. John McCain, with 841 votes to McCain’s 603.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee received 162 votes, as 73.2 percent of precincts reported at 1 a.m.

NOTE: Independent Feature Editor Gaye Brown de Alvarez contributed to this story.