New Mexico turns out for primary election
As temperatures heated up, along with tensions across the United States amid protests and an ongoing pandemic, New Mexicans headed out to the polls to cast their votes in the June 2 primary election.
Across the state, 398,388 of 993,827 registered voters, or 40.09 %, cast a ballot, according to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s website.
The biggest race in the state was for the Democratic candidate for President of the United States. With 34 delegates in New Mexico up for grabs, the tally with 97% of precincts reporting as of June 4 is as follows:
| Joe Biden | 5,502 | 69.67% |
| Bernie Sanders | 1,396 | 17.68% |
| Elizabeth Warren | 386 | 4.89% |
| Andrew Yang | 170 | 2.15% |
| Tulsi Gabbard | 104 | 1.32% |
| Deval Patrick | 67 | 0.85% |
| Uncommitted | 272 | 3.44% |
Harding and Mora counties had the highest percentage of voter turnout in the state, with about 59%. The counties with the most voters casting ballots were Bernalillo with 137,714; Sandoval with 32,452; Santa Fe at 28,840; Dona Ana at 26,302; San Juan with 20,710; and Valencia with 14,885.
In McKinley County, 10,079 out of 33,066 eligible voters cast a ballot. This number is 30.48% of registered voters in the county. Cibola County had 4,512 of 11,512 eligible voters, or 39.18% of registered voters cast ballots.
“There was an increase in the voter turnout,” Marlene Custer, Bureau of Elections manager, said June 4. The total increase would be reflected following the canvass.
Custer also mentioned a number of safety measures that were put into place to help protect voters from the spread of COVID-19.
“The voting places had monitors outside [to direct voters] and all our poll workers wore masks all day,” she said. “Voters that showed up [who] were without a mask, were given a mask.”
Out of 7,897 votes tallied in McKinley County for president, the results are as follows:
THE REST OF THE ELECTIONS
In uncontested races, Ben Ray Lujan retained his U. S. Senate seat, while Xochitl Torres Small held onto her seat in the U. S. House.
Other uncontested winners in the New Mexico House include: Doreen Wonda Johnson for state rep. Dist. 5, Eliseo L. Alcon for Dist. 6, Karen Vanessa Chavez for Dist. 6, Patricia Lundstrom for Dist. 9, Harry Garcia for Dist. 69, and Roy Randall Ryan for Dist. 69.
Uncontested winners in the New Mexico SeTeresa Leger Fernandeznate include: Arthur Pierce Allison for Dist. 3, Angela Olive for Dist. 4, Benny Shendo for Dist. 22 , and Susan E. Aguayo for Dist. 22.
Pamela M. Cordova bested Clemente Sanchez in the race for Dist. 30 senator with 138 votes against his 107.
George Munoz held off Noreen Ann Kelly in the Dist. 4 senate race with 2,626 votes against 1,863 votes.
The race for house Dist. 3 had seven candidates, with the results as follows:
| Teresa Leger Fernandez | 37,031 | 41.38% |
| Valerie E. Plame | 22,045 | 24.64% |
| Joseph L. Sanchez | 11,417 | 12.76% |
| Marco Peter Serna | 7,336 | 8.20% |
| Laura M. Montoya | 5,913 | 6.61% |
| John Blair | 3,856 | 4.31% |
| Kyle J. Tisdel | 1,882 | 2.10% |
Bernadine Martin was elected District Attorney of the Eleventh Judicial District: Div. 2 with 3,155 votes. The challengers Paula E. James-Pakkala and Conrad B. Friedly followed with 2,374 votes and 2,232 votes respectively.
For Democratic County Clerk, Jacqueline Katherine Sloan held off Carol Bowman-Muskett with 4,257 votes to 3,405 votes. Edwin J. Begay ran uncontested for Republican County Clerk and pulled in 1,458 votes.
Charles Long defeated Genevieve J. Jackson for County Treasurer with 4,209 votes against 3,559 votes.
Robert B. Baca was elected the new Dist. 3 County Commissioner with 1,511 votes. Virginia Yazzie Ballenger came in second with 836 votes followed by David R. Dallago with 456 ballots.
The McKinley County canvass is set for June 8 at 10:30 am at the McKinley County Courthouse.
By Cody Begaye
Sun Correspondent
