7 a.m. Lines were a rare sight throughout the day, but when the Elephant Butte polling place opened, 11 voters had queued outside. It took 20 minutes for the last person in the original line to be allowed to enter.
Photograph by Diana Tittle
At almost every polling place in the county, workers reported levels of activity ranging from “pretty slow” to “steady.” There were no known incidences of voter intimidation and even little evidence of last-minute politicking. Quiet was the adjective that springs to mind to describe the prevailing mood where ever the Sun’s roving band of photographers went, seeking to document voter turnout.
Election Day proceeded here at an unhurried pace for a good reason. The vast majority of New Mexicans expected to vote in the general election had already cast their ballots early or absentee. An examination of the total votes cast in all New Mexico House races by Nov. 2, conducted by the New Mexico House Democratic Campaign, revealed that only 10.5 percent of the expected statewide electorate had yet to vote.
Election Day may have begun with little drama, but it ended with a bang. Around 11 p.m. the county clerk posted unofficial election results showing Republican dominance of the total votes cast. To see Sierra County tallies for federal, state and local races and ballot issues, click here.
Sometime between 7 and 7:30 a.m. A poll worker explains the delay in Hillsboro Community Center’s opening to a line of waiting voters. A couple of voting machines had malfunctioned, but were soon working again. Photograph by Richard Pearlman
7:50 a.m. The white line encircling the parking lot at the Albert J. Lyon Event Center in Truth or Consequences was placed 100 feet from the building to indicate where last-minute campaigning could take place. Photograph by Diana Tittle
11:40 a.m. The polling place in Caballo looked deserted, but two men were inside, marking their ballots, and the poll workers reported that 34 voters had preceded them. This turnout, one of the workers said, was “average for a presidential race.” Photograph by Diana Tittle
Mid-afternoon. (Top left) A Trump-Pence supporter campaigning at the intersection of Date and Third in T or C. (Top middle) A poll watcher at the Lyon Center. (Top right) Supporters of Karen Whitlock for New Mexico House District 38 campaign near T or C’s Civic Center. (Bottom) Only eight registered voters living in Monticello had yet to vote by Election Day, according to a Monticello poll worker. This was one of them. Top three photographs by Diana Tittle; bottom photograph by Jane Darland.
4:30 p.m. Just in case they were needed, these officers stood guard at the Lyon Event Center toward the end of the afternoon. Photograph by Barbara Pearlman
5:45 p.m. Possibly one of the last Sierra Countians to cast a vote in 2020, an elderly woman is helped to enter the polling place in the Elephant Butte community center. Photograph by Diana Tittle
