Election recount ongoing for district attorney’s race

Separated by only 136 votes, the race for the 13th Judicial District Attorney is in the process of an automatic recount.

When the state canvassed election results on Tuesday, Nov. 24, Republican Joshua Jimenez had 56,428 votes compared to Democrat Barbara Romo’s 56,564.

Because the totals are within a half a percentage point, the race is subject to an automatic recount under state law.

In Valencia County, Jimenez took 55 percent of the 31,045 votes cast, while in Sandoval County, Romo had 52 percent of 73,434 votes and 53 percent of the 8,513 votes cast in Cibola County.

The three counties in the 13th Judicial District — Valencia, Cibola and Sandoval — were given from Dec. 1 to 3 to recount the votes for the DAs race.

Once the ballots are recounted for that race only, the results will be sent to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office, said Valencia County Clerk Peggy Carabajal.

“We all started at 8 a.m., Tuesday, and had three days to finish,” Carabajal said. “The state canvassing board will reconvene on Thursday, Dec. 10, to re-canvass the results.”

Until the recounted race is canvassed and certified by the state board, the numbers remain unofficial.