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Pat Davis is the founder and publisher of citydesk.nm.news. He is a recovering politician having served eight years as an Albuquerque City Councilor and, in another life, served as a police officer and nonprofit organizer.
On the same day the official city election tallies were being counted, the ABQ BioPark released its own stunning election results: the public had voted on a name for the new baby hippo.
Over at the City Desk election data desk, we crunched the numbers and found that more people voted to name the new baby hippo at the BioPark than cast votes for all three Westside city council seats combined.
For those just catching up, five council seats and the mayor were on the ballot this year and because of the way the districts are drawn and numbered, all three Westside council seats always appear on the same ballot every four years.
This year, that was especially important because the outcome of those three races determined the political composition and control of the council for at least the next two years. (Districts 5 and 9 were also on the ballot but incumbents easily won re-election).
For three very competitive council races to decide the future direction of the council and the city, 38,262 voters turned to vote (31% voter turnout, overall, on the Westside). 16,271 voters turned out in Council District 1, the city’s most contested council race, in the middle of the Westside to choose among 4 candidates vying for a seat left open when current Councilor Louie Sanchez opted to run for mayor. 7,510 voters turned out in District 3 on the Southwest mesa where Councilor Klarissa Peña battled two challengers and 14,841 voters turned out to decide between Councilor Dan Lewis or his challenger Athenea Allen in District 5 covering northwest neighborhoods.
As City Desk reported, Lewis, a Republican, prevailed. The other two seats are headed to a December runoff.
Citywide, more than 130,00 voters showed up to cast votes for mayor, councilors, school board members and other questions. That’s a 34.7% voter turnout according to data from County Clerk Michelle Kavanaugh.
The election at the BioPark, however, was equally high drama according to park officials. “Maisy had the lead early on, then Magdalena pulled ahead later in the week and the two names remained neck-and-neck up until the end,” the city shared. After tallying up a total of 46,456 votes, the winning name for the precious baby was announced: Maisy!”
To be fair, the electorates are a little skewed; voting for a hippo name online is easier than registering to vote, learning about candidates, and getting to a polling place. But still—the future of our city depends on one of these elections and 2/3 of people who had a vote in didn’t show up.