An explanation of the Tuesday night controversy over getting a court order to open ballot boxes

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I want to better explain what happened last night with the ballot boxes that required a court order to open. State law requires that such action be taken in the presence of the county’s canvassing board. Tuesday’s snafus revealed the flaw in that law: Votes needed to be counted, but the county commission isn’t even set to authorize the creation of a canvassing board until 1 p.m. today. District Judge Doug Driggers was called first. He told me last night that a county official explained to him the situation with the canvassing board, and Driggers decided that, because of that, he needed to be in a formal setting where he could hear from all parties involved and consider the statute, so he opted to wait until today. Continue Reading

With provisionals out, some races still close

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All results from Doña Ana County are counted except provisional ballots. You can view the results by clicking here. The county has not yet released the number of provisional ballots cast Tuesday. To be safe, I’m going to say that means there are a number of races too close to call: • In the House District 53 race, Democrat Nate Cote is beating Republican Terry Marquardt by 180 votes. • In the House District 37 race, Democrat Jeff Steinborn is beating Republican Scott Witt by 289 votes. Continue Reading

Unless provisionals change it, Steinborn, Cote win

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Here are the final results on the hot House races:In District 37, Democrat Jeff Steinborn has 4,798 votes, or 51.55 percent. Republican Scott Witt has 4,501 votes, or 48.55 percent.In District 53, Democrat Nate Cote has 2,631 votes, or 51.8 percent. Republican Terry Marquardt has 2,451 votes, or 48.2 percent.Provisional ballots have yet to be counted. Elections Supervisor Lynn Ellins couldn’t tell me how many there are. Continue Reading

Steinborn takes lead, Cote holds lead

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With 101 of 106 precincts reporting, both hot House races are too close to call.In District 37, Democrat Jeff Steinborn has taken the lead. He currently has 4,272 votes, or 50.6 percent. Republican Scott Witt has 4,170 votes, or 49.4 percent.In the District 53 race, Democrat Nate Cote has 2,432 votes, or 50.8 percent. Republican Terry Marquardt has 2,356 votes, or 49.2 percent. Continue Reading

Votes will be counted tonight after all

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County spokesman Jess Williams just announced that District Judge Robert E. Robles is on his way to the government center to sign an order allowing the county to open several boxes and count absentee and early ballots tonight.Robles is doing this despite the fact that Judge Doug Driggers told the county it would have to wait until tomorrow.It appears we’ll have final, unofficial results sometime in the next several hours. Continue Reading

Thousands of votes may not be counted tonight

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It’s possible that more than 3,300 absentee ballots in Doña Ana County won’t be counted until at least Wednesday morning, which could affect most local races and some statewide races.County elections officials said a district judge refused to issue an order allowing two things – the opening of the early voting ballot box from Hatch and the opening of four precincts’ locked boxes.A worker error means the Hatch early votes need to be recounted. And workers erroneously put all materials from their precincts – including any absentee ballots that were cast – into the locked boxes. Officials can’t tally absentee ballots until those boxes are opened.The judge, Doug Driggers, said county officials didn’t tell him that absentee ballots were involved, but said he made his decision because he could not adequately consider the situation tonight.“It would wait until tomorrow morning when I could look at the statutes before me, rather than issuing an order from my home,” Driggers said. “We’ll just wait until tomorrow at 8 a.m. and see what comes up.”With two nearly tied House races in Doña Ana County and several other close races, candidates from both parties are nervous, upset and confused by Driggers’ decision. Continue Reading

Cote beating Marquardt by 53 votes

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In the House District 53 race, Democratic challenger Nate Cote is beating Republican incumbent Terry Marquardt.With 95 of 106 precincts reporting in Doña Ana County and all precincts reporting in Otero County, Cote is leading with 2,225 votes, or 50.6 percent. Marquardt, the House minority whip, has 2,172 votes, or 49.4 percent.“It looks like a very tight race,” Cote said. “It looks to me like we’re neck and neck.”Marquardt did not want to comment.This total also does not include absentee ballots in either county. Unless absentee ballots are counted tonight in Doña Ana County, we may not know the outcome of this race or the District 37 race. Continue Reading

Some absentee ballots may not be counted tonight

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Because no district judge will allow the county to correct poll workers’ mistakes by opening locked ballot boxes tonight, some absentee ballots won’t be counted until tomorrow.In four precincts – 30, 49, 78 and 90 – poll workers locked absentee ballots – if any were cast – in the boxes. That wasn’t supposed to happen, and the county can’t open the boxes without a court order.District judges have been asked by the county and both parties, but have refused to issue such an order tonight, so it may be hard to predict close races.This further compounds the fact that the judges have also refused to issue an order tonight allowing the county to correct another poll worker mistake and count 103 early votes cast in Hatch.“These races, you’re not going to be able to call tonight, especially the close ones,” said county spokesman Jess Williams.County Elections Supervisor Lynn Ellins said there may be no absentee ballots in the boxes. It’s impossible to know until they are opened. Continue Reading

Steinborn, Witt race too close to call

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With 68 of 106 precincts reporting, Republican Scott Witt it up just over 1 percent on Democrat Jeff Steinborn in the House District 37 race. Witt has 3,586 votes, or 50.8 percent, to Steinborn’s 3,479 votes, or 49.2 percent. “It is a close race, obviously,” Steinborn said, adding that he believes some outstanding precincts “will be favorable to us.” “You never know how these things come out until all the votes are counted,” Steinborn said. Witt declined to comment. Continue Reading

Auditor is closest statewide race

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In the closest statewide races, I calculated the following by adding the results from the state with those from Bernalillo and Doña Ana counties: Democratic auditor candidate Hector Balderas is beating Republican candidate Lorenzo Garcia by about 3,500 votes. He has 73,531 to Garcia’s 70,041. That’s a 51-49 percent lead. Republican Land Commissioner Pat Lyons is beating Democratic challenger Jim Baca by more than 13,000 votes. Democratic secretary of state candidate Mary Herrera is beating Republican Vickie Perea by almost 6,000 votes. Continue Reading

Democrats lead all judicial races

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In the district judge Division 5 race, Democrat Lisa Schultz is leading Republican Janetta Hicks 56-44 percent with 31 of 106 precincts reporting. In the district judge Division 8 race, Democrat Fernando Macias is leading Republican Rita Nuñez Neumann 54-46 percent. In the magistrate judge Division 2 race, Democrat Joseph Guillory is leading Republican Steven Foldy 56-44 percent. In the probate judge race, Democrat Alice Salcido is leading Republican Patrick Curran 56-44 percent. Continue Reading

Butler, Garrison, Perez and Perez lead

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In the county commission District 1 race, Democrat Oscar Vasquez Butler has pulled slightly ahead of Republican John Zimmerman. With 31 precincts reporting, Butler has 1,249 votes, or 53 percent, to Zimmerman’s 1,097 votes, or 47 percent. In the commission District 3 race, Democrat Karen Perez is leading Republican Mack Haley 55-45 percent. In the sheriff race, Republican Todd Garrison is leading Republican Ralph Misquez 54-46 percent. In the assessor race, Democrat Gary Perez is leading Republican H.F. “Junior” Adams 62-38 percent. Continue Reading