(AP) — Candidates for governor of New Mexico are making last-minute appeals for support at polling places and restaurants in Albuquerque.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham stopped at a coffee house in the Barelas neighborhood Tuesday to eat and shake hands.
Campaign spokesman James Hallinan says Lujan Grisham voted in the afternoon along with family members at a middle school in a North Valley neighborhood.
Republican U.S. Rep and gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce visited the polls in Albuquerque and stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant. He cast an early ballot weeks ago in his home town of Hobbs.___
New Mexico’s voter turnout numbers have surpassed those from the last midterm election in 2014 just hours before polls close.
New Mexico officials say more than 571,000 ballots have been cast by those who voted absentee, early in person or on Election Day. The numbers released by the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office reflect available voter data as of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The more than 375,000 votes cast at sites across the state before Tuesday accounted for the biggest share of ballots.
At least 132,500 people so far have voted on Election Day.
Nearly 520,000 people total voted in 2014.
More than 600,000 voted in 2010.
