ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) — You know who you voted for, but how well do you know your neighbors? The unofficial results from New Mexico’s 2022 general election reveal which parts of Albuquerque leaned towards Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and which leaned towards Republican challenger Mark Ronchetti. So, do you know where your neighborhood sits?
The baseline: registered voters
Heading into the November election, there were 450,307 registered voters across Bernalillo County, according to data from the New Mexico Secretary of State. Most of Albuquerque’s precincts leaned Democratic. Remember: a precinct is essentially a voting district. Each precinct is served by one polling location.
Much of the area around the University of New Mexico, Downtown Albuquerque, and the Southwest portion of the city had more registered Democratic voters than Republican voters. The eastern and northern portions of the city had a mix, and the Northeast Heights leaned Republican.
Turnout
Voter registration data shows which parts of the city Democrats and Republicans tend to live in. But not everyone who is registered votes.
In fact, the unofficial results of the November election show that only about 55% (246,115 voters) of those registered in Bernalillo County actually cast a ballot. And that turnout varied by precinct.
The data shows that voter turnout was generally stronger in the Northeast Heights than in southwest Albuquerque. Many of the registered voters near the University of New Mexico also ended up casting votes, but many of those registered near Kirtland Airforce Base didn’t vote, at least not in those precincts. Voters don’t always cast their ballot in the precinct that they are registered in.
Votes for Lujan Grisham
Michelle Lujan Grisham won the race for the governor’s office with over 45,000 more statewide votes than Mark Ronchetti, according to the unofficial results. And it turns out, the majority of those votes were from Bernalillo County.
Across Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, Lujan Grisham beat Ronchetti by 41,546 votes, the unofficial results show. But some precincts in the city did see more votes for Ronchetti.
Broadly speaking, the location of turnout in favor of Lujan Grisham roughly matches the concentrations of registered Democrats. But ballots cast doesn’t exactly match registration.
The data shows that Lujan Grisham’s greatest support in Albuquerque came from around the university area. That support closely matches party registration numbers.
But in a few precincts, particularly in the South Valley area, Lujan Grisham seems to have lost support among Democrats. In a handful of precincts, the percent of votes cast for Lujan Grisham was lower than the percent of voters registered as Democratic.
Ronchetti, on the other hand, found a bit of support across most Albuquerque precincts. In a few precincts, Ronchetti even won more votes than the number of registered Republicans. In other words, the data suggests he may have peeled off some voters from other parties.
Who voted for Bedonie?
Statewide, Libertarian Karen Bedonie received only 17,378 total votes, or 2% of the votes cast, according to the unofficial results. In Bernalillo County, only 866 people voted for Bedonie.
In fact, in some precincts so few votes were cast for Bedonie that the Secretary of State doesn’t provide vote counts in order to protect the privacy of voters. But Bedonie did get a scattering of votes throughout the city.
