CNJ poll has record number of voters

STAFF REPORTS

Last week’s Clovis News Journal Web site poll on the district attorney’s race registered 905 votes, by far the most in the site’s one-year history, Freedom Newspapers of New Mexico Editor David Stevens said.

Challenger Matt Chandler received 567 votes in the poll, compared to 338 for incumbent Brett Carter.

“The poll is for fun and, we hope, thought provoking. We don’t pretend it’s a true test of how the election might come out,” Stevens said.

“We have it rigged so no one can vote more than once on a computer, but it’s not even close to scientific and we have no way to track whether those voting are registered or if they even live around here. But the numbers certainly suggest the community is excited about this race.”

Stevens said the previous record for voting in a poll was set last month when 453 picked a side in an issue of editing control over the Clovis High School newspaper.

Most CNJ Web polls average fewer than 300 participants, Stevens said.

The Carter vs. Chandler poll also attracted a lot of attention on the Portales News-Tribune Web site, another Freedom newspaper.

Chandler won that vote 400-146. Stevens said the Portales site seldom receives 200 votes on issues.

Most Freedom Newspapers of New Mexico Web polls go up late Saturday night and remain on the sites for one week, Stevens said. The Freedom chain includes papers in Clovis, Portales and the Quay County Sun in Tucumcari.