Election hurdles for Paseo Project

KRQE TV

Updated: Sep 3, 2012 5:56 PM

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) — The topic has been stalled for months.

Albuquerque should get some answers soon about the status of the Paseo Del Norte/I-25 Interchange reconstruction project.

City councilors get another chance to vote on Wednesday, to decide whether or not they want to go forward with the construction, without taking the issue to city voters.

The $50 million worth of funding to help revamp Paseo was supposed to go to voters in the November election, but then an opinion from the Attorney General's office in August almost brought the project to a screeching halt. It said city issues don't qualify for general election ballots. Only state or county issues qualify.

"I mean it's created more confusion. The voters are, I think, shocked at what's going on," said City Councilor Ken Sanchez of District 1.

Now the Attorney General's office says it's alright to have the bill go on the ballot with a few stipulations. The city will have to suspend its voter ID requirements and not ask for ID  because that's how the state does things.

"With the State of New Mexico, it is not required to have an ID...So basically, for the one election, we would wave the individuals having to go to the ballot box and not needing any type of identification," said Sanchez.

On Wednesday, the City Council will vote once again to outright approve the funding.

Past attempts failed because three councilors held out, preventing the super-majority needed to bypass the voters.

If the attempt fails again, councilors will vote to change the voter ID requirements, but a super-majority is required.

It's a move that could save the city a lot of money.

"The cost will be minimal compared to having a special election on a separate day," said Sanchez.

He estimates a separate election could cost the city as much as $500,000.

The Paseo Project is popular with voters. An independent poll showed 73 percent of Albuquerque voters favored it.

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