ALBUQUERQUE — Patricia Wagner heard the news as she walked up the stairs at an Albuquerque middle school to cast her vote for the Democratic nominee for president — the caucus site was out of ballots.

About 100 residents already were waiting inside to vote in the state Democratic Party's second-ever caucus. The middle school is located in an area that is heavily Republican, and Wagner figured Democratic Party officials didn't have enough ballots because they didn't expect much of a turnout.

"It just says they don't take this seriously," she said. "It's not like this is something they decided two days ago."

A lack of ballots at a handful of polling sites and hourslong lines that snaked through hallways, gymnasiums, fire station garages and around buildings turned off many voters throughout New Mexico. As the polls closed at 7 p.m., between 1,000 and 1,500 people still were waiting to vote at Rio Rancho High School.

"Unfortunately the lines were long, but the good thing was there was absolutely a ton of interest to participate in this caucus," said Jim Noel, a volunteer at the Rio Rancho site.

Long lines were a sign that turnout could exceed early expectations, said state Democratic Party chairman Brian Colon, who acknowledged the party had to supply additional materials to voting places around the state.

The Democrats opened 184 caucus sites statewide, sometimes consolidating many precincts at a single location — leading to confusion among voters about where to vote and adding to caucus problems.

John Rose, an engineer, waited in line for two hours to cast his vote at a high school in southeast Albuquerque. "It's very frustrating," he said. "It makes you think that people are not using what's between their ears. ... If people are prepared and organized in the job they do, you will not have delays."

Marian Jordan, a 63-year-old retired Sandia National Laboratories worker, waited 40 minutes to vote at the same location, but she said she didn't mind. "We won the right to vote," the black woman said. "We think it is a privilege."

Voters at a middle school on Albuquerque's west side shook hands and greeted each other with a warm, "Como esta?" while waiting 45 minutes to vote.

"It's been like this since 11:35 a.m.," said poll worker Bernadette Lithgow as she tried to organize the crowd. "It's just craziness, putting all these precincts together like this."

Poll workers in Aztec and Bloomfield in northwestern New Mexico had to request more ballots when crowds topped 400 before 5 p.m.

"They assume that for a primary election, they're going to have a certain amount of voters, but we have more than we expected," Bloomfield site manager Dolores Conyers told the Farmington Daily Times.

In Las Cruces, one caucus site ran out of provisional ballots three times. Caucus workers had to hand-write ballots for voters to fill out just before the polls closed, site manager Barbara Myers told the Las Cruces Sun-News.

Colon said he wasn't aware of the report. However, he said if that was going on, those ballots would be reviewed and if the person was a registered Democrat and a clear choice was made, the ballot would be counted. "We want to be inclusive," he said.

One polling site in Chama had to be relocated after snow and ice that banked up against an elementary school made it unsafe for people to walk there, said Laura Sanchez, executive director of the state Democratic Party.

Farther south in Las Vegas, N.M., Thomas Espinoza said he and his father waited 1 1/2 hours during the lunch hour to cast their ballots at one of two polling sites before finally giving up.

"The lines are ridiculous," he told the Las Vegas Optic. And he said he wasn't returning after work: "I'm not going to put up with that again."

He said his 90-year-old father, Benito Espinoza, also left without voting.

"He has never missed a vote in his life," Thomas Espinoza said. "He was disgusted."

In Doña Ana County, the lack of parking spaces at one site and wait times of up to 45 minutes upset some voters, but others said they didn't mind.




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