It is time to get it on, rock the vote and turn the tide around.As we head into the time of casting votes in the midterm election, Weekly Alibi looked at what Bernalillo County has on the ballot. As of last week, the county’s registered voter breakdown looks like this: there are 193,168 Democrats, 117,716 Republicans, 98,664 Independents/Decline to State, 3,622 Libertarians and 4,099 citizens registered to other parties.Absentee voting began this week here in Bernalillo County. Early voting at the County Clerk’s Annex at 1500 Lomas Blvd. started on Tuesday, Oct. 9 and will commence at all other locations on Saturday, Oct. 20. The anxiously awaited 2018 Voter’s Guide put out by the League of Women Voters of Central New Mexico was published recently too. It includes Bernalillo and Sandoval County ballots.Check out the Secretary of State website for more interesting information at: sos.state.nm.us For early and mobile voting locations visit bernco.gov/elections. For the full League of Women Voters of Central New Mexico guide, which includes short candidate questions along with more information about the bond questions and amendments, visit lwvcnm.org. Most importantly, stay tuned to Weekly Alibi for more election profiles and coverage. As an official wonkette, I took a cruise through the Bernco side and have determined for Alibi readers the essential points, distilled into the brief but essential list that follows.The Sexy OnesThe top of the ballot will show the $174,000-a-year United States Senate seat contended for by Martin Heinrich-D, Gary E. Johnson-L and Mick Rich-R. As a supporter of Heinrich since the man ran for City Council in Alibi’s district, we continue to proudly support our progressive senator. As for Gary, well Libertarianism is a political practice of those few with vast resources—enough to be able to consider themselves islands, apart from concepts like community.Then there are the three US Representative races that pay $174,000 per year. District one, which takes in Bernalillo County, has three contenders: Debra Haaland-D, Lloyd Princeton-L and Janice Arnold-Jones-R. Next week, Weekly Alibi will feature an interview with Haaland and brief biographies of her competition. The other two US Representative positions are not on our Bernco ballot. The District 3 race is all but done, as it has been year after year; District 2 will be a potent indicator of the magnitude and reach of the coming blue wave.The $110,000 a year governor’s gig is next on the ballot, with Michelle Lujan Grisham-D and Steve Pearce-R duking it out. Check out our policy paper on Pearce, one page over. And look for a feature on Alibi-endorsed Lujan Grisham to follow on our pages thereafter.Howie Morales-D, and Michelle Garcia-Holmes-R, both want the $85,000 job of Lieutenant Governor and though they ran independent primary campaigns, both are now tied to the big guns, as it were.The gloves are off between Maggie Toulouse Oliver-D, Ginger Grider-L and Gavin Clarkson-R for the $85,000 Secretary of State paycheck. Brian Colón-D and Wayne Johnson-R both want to collect $85,000 as the next State Auditor. The editorial board at Weekly Alibi liked much about Colón’s bid for mayor and believes he has a place in state government; contrariwise, we would would like to remain polite but quite distant from this version of Johnson. The state’s Treasurer is a $85,000 dream job for Tim Eichenberg-D and Arthur Castillo-R.Hector Baldaras-D, A. Blair Dunn-L and Michael Eugene Hendricks-R are vying for $95,000-a-year Attorney General position, a position we might add, that Baldaras has held with much honor, action and commitment for one term already.Stephanie Garcia Richard-D, Michael Lucero-L and Patrick Lyons-R are running for the important $90,000-a-year position of Commissioner of Public Lands.The entire State House of Representatives are up for reelection so check out who is running where you live and make a good choice because it pays big bucks of $164 a day plus mileage for the annual 30 or 60 day sessions and any interim meetings. As part of that process, take care to note news, good and bad about representatives of the ruling party here in the Land of Enchantment.N.M. CourtsThere is one open seat for a justice on the state’s highest court. The $139,818-a-year State Supreme Court seat is being sought after by Michael Vigil-D and Gary Clingman-R. In a twist that will change the composition at the top judge’s table, two senior justices have announced their retirements at the end of the year and it will be up to the new governor to appoint replacements who will fill out the terms of the retirees before standing for reelection.The State Court of Appeals has four contested positions. The appellate judges are paid $132,727 per year. The battle for position one features Kristina Bogardus-D and Stephen French-R facing off; position two includes Jacqueline R. Medina-D and Henry Bohnhoff-R battling it out. The third position candidates are Briana Zamora-D and Emil Kiehne-R. Position four candidates are Megan Duffy-D and Daniel Joe Gallegos. J. Miles Hanisee is up for Court of Appeals judicial retention. Nineteen Bernalillo County Metropolitan Judges are up for retention as well. These are yay or nay votes for these candidates to stay on the job and collect a yearly salary of $119,870. So guess this is your chance to get back at that traffic ticket judge.Log on to the New Mexico Judicial Performance Commission at nmjpec.org to see how the judges on your ballot scored with this judicial review agency.
Next week:County races, select local wrestling matches, and bond issues and amendments, too!
