Unofficial Results

Editor’s note: The unofficial results listed below are current as of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 3. The numbers are from the New Mexico Secretary of State’s website. Visit news-bulletin.com for updated numbers.

Valencia County Commission

District 2

Democrats

Duana M. Draszkiewicz 357

Ralph R. Miramontes 437

Thomas William Mraz (I) 227

Republicans

Christopher D. Martinez 339

Troy Dean Richardson 528

District 4

Democrats

LeRoy Baca 1,064

Logan S. Jeffers 501

Republican

Joseph Aaron Bizzell 1.059

District 5

Democrat

David M. Tynan 1,296

Republican

Jhonathan M. Aragon (I) 1,296

Valencia County Clerk

Democrats

Aurora Dolores Chavez 4,054

Jennifer L. Jaramillo 3,230

Republican

Michael E. Milam 5,661

Valencia County Treasurer

Democrat

Michael P. Steininger 6,228

Republican

Deseri Ann Sichler (I) 5,822

State Senate

District 29

Democrat

Paul A. Baca 4,046

Republican

Gregory A. Baca (I) 3,116

District 30 (24/46 precincts reporting)

Democrats

Pamela M. Cordova 3,280

Clemente Sanchez (I) 2,063

Republicans

Kelly Kendra Zunie 1,277

Joshua A. Sanchez 2,349

District 39 (30/50 precincts reporting)

Democrat

Elizabeth Liz Stefanics (I) 5,204

Republicans

Joseph C. Tiano 1,960

Susan K. Vescovo 1,919

State Representative

District 7

Democrat

Santos Griego 2,064

Republican

Kelly K. Fajardo (I) 1,884

District 8

Democrat

Paul Matthew Kinzelman 2,799

Republican

Alonzo Baldonado (I) 2,873

District 49 (35/44 precincts reporting)

Republican

Gail “Missy” Armstrong (I) 2,545

District 50 (10/31 precincts reporting)

Democrats

Rebecca “Becky” King Spindle 1,183

Matthew McQueen (I) 3,163

Libertarian

Jerry D. Gage 29

Republican

Christina L. Estrada 2,426

District 69 (22/31 precincts reporting)

Democrat

Harry Garcia (I) 2,337

Republican

Roy Randall Ryan 823

13th Judicial District Attorney

(168/230 precincts reporting)

Democrats

Barbara Romo 19,310

Mandana Shoushtari 8,098

Republican

Joshua Joe Jimenez 17,856

Magistrate Judge Division 1

Democrats

Andrew J. Barreras 3,026

Heather R. Benavidez (I) 4,406

Republican

Miles R. Tafoya 5,668

13th Judicial District Court Judge

(168/230 precincts reporting)

Division 4

Democrat

Amanda Sanchez Villalobos (I) 25,087

Division 5

Democrat

James A. Noel (I) 24,105

Division 7

Democrat

Chris G. Perez (I) 24,656

The Valencia County clerk called the 2020 primary “one for the books.”

“It was unreal, with so many voters. For some reason, we had a lot of people who were registered no party, Independent, Green, who wanted to vote,” said Valencia County Clerk Peggy Carabajal. “I’m not sure why they came out.”

New Mexico has closed primaries, meaning only registered Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians can vote in a primary.

Due to the current public health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus, precautions such as masks and disinfecting surfaces were taken at in-person early voting locations as well as Voting Convenience Centers on Election Day, Tuesday, June 2.

Peggy Carabajal
Valencia County Clerk

The biggest precaution was the court-ordered mailing of absentee ballot applications to every major party registered voter in the state; in Valencia County there are 34,322 registered Democrats, Libertarians and Republicans.

When the polls closed at 7 p.m., about 9,400 county voters had submitted an absentee ballot out of a total of 14,793 ballots cast in this year’s primary for a turnout of nearly 43 percent.

On Election Day, the clerk said there were lines of people waiting to vote mostly due to the need to disinfect surfaces at voting sites between groups of voters.

“All through May, during early voting, there were no lines,” she said. “People could have voted then. It’s the exact same process.”

When voters received the absentee ballot application, Carabajal said they may have felt they had to send it in.

“We probably had some people who never voted absentee who did this election,” Carabajal said. “Numbers at our three early voting sites were low. I think that was due to the pandemic.”

At all county voting sites — both early and on Election Day — poll workers wore masks, washed their hands every 30 minutes and disinfected surfaces and pens.

Voters used disposal wooden popsicle sticks to sign the electronic signature pad before they voted and were asked, but not required, to wear a mask.

The response to the precautions was mixed, the clerk said.

“Some people were pretty happy that things were so clean and disinfected. Some thought it was ridiculous that we had signs up to wash your hands and we were wearing masks,” Carabajal said.

In the weeks leading up to Election Day, 2,139 ballots were cast during early voting, and 3,248 voters held out until Tuesday.

In comparison, the canvass report for the 2016 primary, shows 9,987 ballots total were cast — 6,166 from Democrats and 3,821 from Republicans. The Libertarian party was not a major party that year.

There were 969 absentee ballots, 2,231 cast in early voting and 6,787 on that Election Day.

Carabajal said there was a slow-down in sending out and getting back absentee ballots this year.

“Because we were sending out so many, we used a third-party vendor in Albuquerque — Automated Elections Solutions — so they were a bit slower going out since they were coming from Albuquerque. We didn’t have the manpower here in the office to send them out like we usually do,” the clerk said.

The other bottle neck was at the Los Lunas post office, she said. Because postage for the ballots was paid by the secretary of state, the number of ballots coming through the post office each day had to be accounted for in order to bill the state correctly.

“At one point, we didn’t get ballots for two days; we found out there was one employee doing the counting for the postage billing and he was out,” Carabajal said. “We made some complaints and the service improved.”

During early voting, two long-time, experienced poll workers had to leave their positions, the clerk said, and were replaced by members of her staff.

“Every election is a lot of work and this one had some extra challenges,” she said. “We were spread very, very thin but we worked very hard to serve the voters.”

Carabajal said there is a meeting planned for early July of the county clerks and the secretary of state to get guidance for the November general election.

“I think there will still be precautions in place,” she said. “I feel pretty good with all the precautions we took. I think we can do it again.”

Valencia County Commission

District 2

In the District 2 Valencia County Commission seat, Democrat Ralph Miramontes will face off against Republican Troy Dean Richardson.

Miramontes is a prosecution assistant for the 13th Judicial District Attorney’s office, and Richardson is a project manager.

District 4

Democrat Leroy Baca will face Republican Joseph Aaron Bizzell in the November general election.

Baca is a retired University of New Mexico-Valencia campus teacher, and Bizzell is a contractor.

District 5

The two candidates in the District 5 race — Democrat David M. Tynan and Republican incumbent Jhonathan Aragon — will both be on the ballot for the November general election.

Tynan is a retired engineering manager, and Aragon is a veterinary technician.

Valencia County Clerk

The two candidates running for Valencia County Clerk this fall will be Democrat Aurora Dolores Chavez and Republican Michael E. Milam.

Chavez is the chief deputy county clerk for the Valencia County Clerk’s Office, a position she has held since 2013.

Milam is a real estate broker for Keller Williams Realty and an owner broker for Preferred Property Management.

Valencia County Treasurer

Only two candidates filed to run for Valencia County Treasurer and both will continue on to the November General Election — Democrat Michael P. Steininger and Republican incumbent Deseri Sichler.

Steininger is the special director for the State of New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, local government division, budget and finance bureau, and Sichler is running for her second term.

New Mexico State Senate

District 29

Democrat Paul Baca and Republican incumbent Gregory A. Baca were the only two candidates running in the primary, so they too will continue on to the November ballot.

Paul Baca is the president and CEO of Valley Improvement Association and the owner of the Long John Silver/A&W/Kicks 66 in Belen.

Gregory A. Baca, a Los Lunas attorney, is running for his second term.

District 30

In District 30, Democrat incumbent Clemente Sanchez was upset by challenger Pamela M. Cordova. She will be on the November ticket with Republican Joshua A. Sanchez.

Cordova is a retired educator, and Joshua A. Sanchez owns his own business.

District 39

Incumbent Elizabeth Stefanics had the Democratic ticket to herself, and will face Republican Joseph C. Tiano in November.

Stefanics has held the seat since 2016 and is a retired consultant. Tiano is a retired law enforcement officer with 24 years of experience.

New Mexico House of Representatives

District 7

Both unchallenged in the primary, Democrat Santos Griego and incumbent Republican Kelly Fajardo will face off on the general election ballot in the fall for the District 7 seat.

Griego is a journeyman inside wireman with the IBEW, and Fajardo is a small business owner.

District 8

In District 8, the two unchallenged primary candidates will go on to the general election — incumbent Republican Alonzo Baldonado and Democrat Paul Matthew Kinzelman.

Kinzelman is a cargo pilot and former computer engineer, and Baldonado is a real estate broker and small business owner.

District 49

In District 49, incumbent Republican Gail “Missy” Armstrong was completely unchallenged, drawing no opposition from either party. She is self employed.

District 50

In November, there will be three candidates on the ballot for District 50 — Democrat incumbent Matthew McQueen, an attorney from Lamy; Republican Christina L. Estrada, a self-employed rancher and rental property owner; and Libertarian Jerry Gage, a retired veteran.

District 69

In the District 69 race, Democrat incumbent Harry Garcia and Republican Roy Randall Ryan were both unchallenged.

Garcia has been a small business owner in Cibola County for more than 30 years. Ryan is retired from law enforcement after 33 years.

13th Judicial District Attorney

In November, Democrat Barbara Romo will go up against Republican Joshua Joe Jimenez for the position of 13th Judicial District Attorney.

Romo is the chief deputy district attorney for the 13th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, and Jimenez is one of the partner attorneys at Payne and Jimenez, a Los Lunas law firm.

Magistrate Court Judge, Division I

After the retirement of former magistrate Tina Garcia, the Division I seat was placed on the primary ballot.

Democrat Heather Benavidez and Republican Miles R. Tafoya will vie for the seat in November.

Benavidez was appointed to the Division I seat in late March after she filed to run for the position. Tafoya is a surveillance officer for the Valencia County DWI Drug Court.

13th Judicial District Court Judge

The candidates running for the three divisions in the 13th Judicial District Court judgeships were all unchallenged Democrats and will be on the ballot in November — Division 4, Cibola County, Amanda Sanchez Villalobos; and in Divisions 5 and 7, Sandoval County, Democrats James A. Noel and Chris G. Perez.

What’s your Reaction?
+1
0
+1
0
+1
0
+1
0
+1
0
+1
0

Julia M. Dendinger began working at the VCNB in 2006. She covers Valencia County government, Belen Consolidated Schools and the village of Bosque Farms. She is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists Rio Grande chapter’s board of directors.