Voting in Tuesday's municipal election was slow but steady.

At Chaparral Elementary on the south side of town, about 130 people of 2,653 registered voters — less than one half of 1 percent — had voted by 9:30 a.m.

Mayoral candidate Miguel Chavez stood alone at the entrance to the school parking lot.

"I'm making the rounds," he said, explaining how from there, he will be heading to Kearny Elementary, then Capshaw, Kaune, E.J. Martinez and the Elks Lodge.

"It's pretty much standard so far," Chavez said of his fourth city race since 1996. "The only thing that really jumps out at me is dollar amount that's gone into the incumbent's campaign. It's, what?, $170,000 now. That's pretty high. That stands out."

Nearby, holding signs, were two of incumbent Mayor David Coss' supporters — Miles Conway, who works for the Communications Workers of American, the union that Coss was an officer of when he worked for the state, and Gary Johnson, a former city police captain and brother of former Police Chief Eric Johnson.

"I've put up signs and talked to people, but I mainly do yard signs," Gary Johnson said. "David Coss did a great job for the police department while we were there. This is my way of paying him back."

Across the street, holding a sign promoting Asenath Kepler's bid for mayor, was John Delora who said his father is a good friend of Kepler. He stood near Miles Sweeney with a sign for Ronald Trujillo who was unopposed for re-election to the City Council position in District 3.

Just west of the Santa Fe Railyard, at Alvord Elementary School, District 1 City Council incumbent Chris Calvert was standing near the entrance with volunteer Carol Raymond. Nearby, challenger Doug Nava's sister Vanessa Montoya led four other supporters of her brother. But there was no one there for the third candidate for the position, Russell Simon.

"This is all a circus," said one voter as he entered the school. "It just seems like such a waste. ... Take all this affordable housing that the city's doing, when they should be concentrating on things like roads and sidewalks — what we expect from municipal government."

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.