Rio Rancho runoff on pace to top March turnout — if Election Day holds

Rio Rancho’s mayoral runoff is on pace to exceed total turnout from March’s six-candidate municipal election — a potentially historic result for a race that typically draws far fewer voters.

The city clerk’s office reported 10,230 early votes cast in the runoff, representing 12.5% of the city’s 81,919 registered voters ahead of Tuesday’s election. That figure already equals 74% of the 13,814 total votes cast in the March 3 municipal election, which featured a full ballot including three council races, a judgeship and three bond questions, according to the official canvass report.

BY THE NUMBERS: Runoff on pace to top March

Source: City of Rio Rancho Office of the City Clerk

Tuesday’s ballot features only the mayoral contest between District 4 City Councilor Paul Wymer and Alexandria Piland, who chaired the Sandoval County Democratic Party. Neither secured a majority in March’s six-person race, triggering the runoff.

Wymer led the March 3 field with 6,240 votes (45.2%) but fell short of the majority needed to win outright. He says avoiding a runoff drop-off is his campaign’s central concern.

“The number of voters that we saw during the regular election was already low enough,” Wymer said. “Historically, the runoff elections are less than that. I fear that maybe some of my voter pool will say, ‘He’s got this. I don’t need to go vote.’ We really need everyone to get out and vote.”

Wymer described the message on his mailers and door hangers plainly: “Vote — low voter turnout could result in the candidate you don’t support winning.”

Piland finished second in March with 3,672 votes (26.6%) and said her campaign has not slowed since election night.

“We know that we just have to roll up our sleeves and get to work,” she said. “My team is the heart and the volunteers are the soul.”

Piland argues the low-turnout problem runs deeper than campaign strategy — she calls Rio Rancho’s March election schedule a policy failure. Deputy City Manager Peter Wells has said moving elections to November would save taxpayers nearly half a million dollars and increase voter participation.

“[The election] is going to cost us a million dollars,” Piland said. “That’ll do half a mile of road.”

The Governing Body voted down an ordinance in May that would have moved municipal elections to November and eliminated voter identification requirements. Wymer was one of three councilors who voted in favor of the change.

Vote Tuesday, April 14 — Polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• Broadmoor Senior Center (Clerk’s Annex), 3241 Broadmoor Blvd.
• Haynes Community Center, 2006 Grande Blvd. SE
• Loma Colorado Library, 755 Loma Colorado Blvd.
• Esther Bone Library, 950 Pinetree Road SE
• Cabezon Community Center, 2307 Cabezon Blvd.
• Star Heights Recreation Center, 800 Polaris Blvd.
• 2345 Southern Blvd. SE, Suite C2
• 4114 Sabana Grande Ave.
• The Hub @ Enchanted Hills, 7845 Enchanted Hills Blvd.
• Rio Rancho Middle School, 1600 Loma Colorado Blvd.
• Cielo Azul Elementary School, 3804 Shiloh Road
• Joe Harris Elementary School, 2100 10th St.
• Puesta Del Sol Elementary School, 450 Southern Blvd.
• Colinas Del Norte Elementary School, 1001 Night Sky Ave.

Full information: rrnm.gov/rrvotes | City Clerk: (505) 891-5004