Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal
SANTA FE – New Mexico’s canvassing board on Wednesday certified the election results in two legislative races that were so close they triggered an automatic recount.
The outcome didn’t change in either race.
In fact, the margin of victory was exactly the same in one race and changed by just one vote in the other.
The certification closes the books on the 2022 general election and confirms Democrats will have a 45-25 majority in the state House of Representatives, equaling the number of seats they had this year.
In District 68, the recount affirmed that Democrat Charlotte Little defeated Republican Robert Moss. She had a 35-vote margin of victory in the recount, down from 36 votes in the initial canvass.
The district covers part of the West Side of Albuquerque and will stay under Democratic control.
In District 32, Republican Jenifer Jones defeated Democratic incumbent Candie Sweetser, according to the recount. Jones had a 46-vote margin in both the recount and the initial canvass.
Her district covers Deming and part of southwestern New Mexico.
In Wednesday’s canvassing board meeting, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said no automatic recount under the system that started in 2008 has resulted in the outcome of a race flipping from one candidate to the other – a sign of New Mexico’s accurate election infrastructure, which relies on paper ballots, she said.
“I think we lead the country quite frankly in safe and secure elections,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said.
Lujan Grisham and Toulouse Oliver, both Democrats, are members of the state canvassing board. They voted to certify the recount results in a short meeting at the Capitol.
The third member of the board, Supreme Court Chief Justice Shannon Bacon, was excused.
