Thursday, November 11, 2004

Absentee Voting

If everyone else can go on and on and on about the election, so can I.

Here, in case any of you are conceivably interested, is the Unofficial Election Results page for the County in which I was registered. I am in Precinct 67 of Sandoval County (assuming my ballot was counted), which is the 'precinct' for absentee voters. New Mexico has been counting ballots at its own leisurely pace; all ballots are counted by hand. Kerry, interestingly, still could win New Mexico; we're only talking about a few thousand votes. At this point it's not really probable at all, but no one should assume Bush won the Land of Enchantment simply because the Associated Press says so. Media organizations are not part of the election process.

Sandoval County is directly north of Bernalillo County; Albuquerque is the county seat of Bernalillo County, while Bernalillo is the county seat of Sandoval County. Yes, that's as confusing as it sounds. It is directly west of Santa Fe County. Its largest city is Rio Rancho, the fourth largest city in New Mexico; that's where my parents lived when I last renewed my state ID (hence my registration there). Bernalillo and Sandoval Counties are Sandia Mountains country. Some of the neater cultural events are things like the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, in which every October people come from all over the world for ballooning competitions.

Incidentally, if the name 'Sandoval County' sounds familiar to you who have never lived in New Mexico (it probably doesn't, but if it does), this is probably why.