Does New Mexico get a spaceport as we enter the new space race?

For or against a local spaceport, the voters of Dona Ana County in southern New Mexico are waiting. Not on resolution to a dispute over hanging chads but on the final tally from 541 provisional ballots.

On Tuesday folks there voted on a tax measure to build a spaceport. So far the measure is 204 votes ahead. The count may not be finished until Thursday. If it's favorable, New Mexico will build Spaceport America.

Neighboring Texas already has a spaceport, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. His aerospace company is called Blue Origin.

New Mexico and Bezos are lagging, of course, behind the Russians. Commercial Russian space travel already is happening. Perhaps Bezos and Dona Ana County will offer their clients better food and built-in iPod docking stations.