ALBUQUERQUE — Long lines and hour-plus wait times for early voters have disappeared, but clerks across the state say voters still are filing in steadily to cast ballots before Election Day.

"This is humongous. This is beautiful," Sandoval County Clerk Sally Padilla said Tuesday as voters flowed in to cast their ballots at early voting sites.

Most clerks contacted by The Associated Press this week said it's likely their counties would match or surpass the early voter turnout of four years ago — although several could not directly compare this week's early voting numbers to the comparable period during the 2004 presidential election.

About 226,000 New Mexicans had voted early in person or with absentee ballots as of Monday, with early voting continuing through Saturday and absentee ballots required to be turned in by Election Day. In the 2004 general election, a total of just more than 392,000 people voted early or with absentee ballots.

Statewide, about 157,700 people have voted early in person and around 68,700 absentee ballots have been returned as of Monday.

Democrats account for about 58 percent of those votes.

Early in-person voting began Oct. 7 at county clerk's offices. Early voting at alternative sites outside clerks' offices began Oct. 18.

Bernice Chavez, Sandoval County elections manager, said as of Tuesday night, 11,504 people had voted early — just more than 14 percent of the 79,407 registered voters.

In the state's most populous county, Bernalillo County, more than 104,000 people had voted early and absentee through Monday, about 27 percent of the approximately 393,000 registered voters, said Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver.

The county is seeing about 8,000 voters a day at 16 early voting sites, which Oliver said could reduce Election Day lines.

In 2004, about 60 percent of Bernalillo County's voters cast early or absentee ballots.

Doña Ana County's acting elections supervisor, Mario Jimenez, said about 16,300 early votes had been cast through Monday out of the county's 108,620 registered voters.

The largest problem the county has seen so far is people who requested an absentee ballot showing up to vote early instead. Those voters have to use a provisional ballot.

"I guess they're changing their minds," Jimenez said.

But voters who ask for absentee ballots are presumed to be voting on those ballots, and clerks have to make sure they didn't vote twice.

Voters who requested absentee ballots but didn't receive them have options. If they cannot get to the clerk's office because of medical reasons or because they live somewhere else, they can call the clerk, have the first ballot "spoiled" and get a replacement. Voters otherwise must go to the office in person and sign a waiver negating the first ballot to get a replacement.

Voters can request replacement ballots in person up to and on Election Day, but by law the clerk cannot mail any ballots after Friday.

Provisional ballots also go to people who show up to vote at the wrong precinct or who do not appear on registration rolls. But such votes cannot be counted on Election Day because clerks have to make sure the voter was eligible and hadn't already voted by some other means.

San Juan County had 9,782 early votes through noon on Tuesday, nearly 15 percent of the county's 65,366 registered voters, said County Clerk Fran Hanhardt.

She said the volume of early voters reflects the intensity of people's conviction to vote.

"People are so determined to vote in this election, they are going to do whatever it takes to make sure their vote counts," Hanhardt said.

Conni Jo Lyman, who heads Curry County's Election Bureau, said about 400 more people had voted early by Monday this year, 17 days into the early voting period, than during the first 17 days of the 2004 election. She attributes this year's higher numbers to early voting itself.

"The popularity of early voting has truly caught on," she said. "I think people enjoy that feeling of voting when they want to instead of when we want them to."

Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza said early voting started with a bang but is now holding steady.

"The levels of (voter) anxiety early on was very high. ... Now it's like the calm before the big snow. The voters seem a little more patient now," Espinoza said.

Some 20,700 people had voted early in Santa Fe County, about one-fifth of the county's estimated 96,000 registered voters, by Monday.

Clerks said problems so far have been minor. Bernalillo and Lea County mentioned "electioneering" — wearing campaign T-shirts and buttons within 100 feet of the election site.

"We ask voters to turn the shirts inside out or remove the button when they are voting," Oliver said.

Hughes said many people come to vote wearing campaign buttons.

"But they're very nice about taking them off and complying," she said.




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