Long lines don't deter voters at Rio Rancho site
Posted at: 11/06/2012 10:37 PM
| Updated at: 11/07/2012 6:31 AM
By: Jill Galus, KOB Eyewitness News
Voters at Puesta del Sol elementary school in Rio Rancho were forced to wait in line for hours Tuesday.
Max Miestas was one of hundreds of dedicated voters stuck in the middle. He stood in line for more than four hours.
"I think the county clerk's got a big mess," Miestas said.
"Something like waiting in line, if people are going to do that for one of their favorite movies we might as well do it for something as important as our election."
Puesta del Sol was just one of five Rio Rancho polling locations.
When word got out of the overwhelming crowds, Governor Susana Martinez showed up.
"If this had happened in Taos or happened in Las Vegas, it doesn't matter. I would be going there," Martinez said.
Martinez passed out more than 30 pizzas and 15 cases of water, and encouraged voters to not give up.
"I heard people say that, because she was here, they stayed. So, with the pizza, the water and her just taking time, I think it made a difference," Veronica Lewis, one of the voters in line, said.
But for some, enough was enough. Some walked away without ever casting a ballot.
Petrita Lopez-O'Neill was one of those people.
"My husband got here at 4:00, I came here at 5:00. It's ridiculous," Lopez-O'Neill said.
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