The primary election wrapped up last month, but last week there was one more chance for someone to become a candidate on the November General Election ballot.

Thursday, June 30, was the chance for candidates belonging to minor political parties and registered voters who declined to state a party can file for candidacy, and major party members to file as write-in candidates.

One town of Peralta resident has thrown his hat into the ring to run as a write-in candidate in the House of Representatives District 8 race.

Democrat Paul Kinzelman, 59, will run against Republican incumbent Brian Baca in the Nov. 8 General Election. Kinzelman is a pilot and has a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University.

To vote for the write-in candidate, voters will have to literally write his name on the space provided on the ballot.

Baca, 51, was appointed to the seat in January after Alonzo Baldonado suddenly announced his resignation. He received 2,122 votes. Baca is the deputy superintendent for Los Lunas Schools.

 

Recount in Republican probate judge primary

In the three-way run for the Republican choice for Valencia County probate judge, two candidates each drew 38 percent of the votes cast in the race, which has resulted in an automatic recount.

Wendy Wallace, who was appointed to the position in March by the Valencia County Commission, received 1,801 votes to Jennifer Jaramillo’s 1,762, a margin of only 39 votes.

The third candidate in the race, Cynthia Runyon, received 1,125

The recount will begin on Monday, July 11, and is expected to be finished in just a day or two, according to a June 29 Albuquerque Journal article.

Statewide, 25.2 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the June 7 primary.

Percentage turnout in Valencia County nearly matched that, with 25.07 percent of the county’s 35,841 eligible voters turning out for the primary. There were 8,986 ballots cast total, with 45 from Libertarian voters, 5,381 from Republicans and 3,660 from Democrats.

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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.