Briefs

Recounts for NM House seats certified, no results change

By: Nash Jones, KUNM News - December 15, 2022 1:17 pm

The State Canvassing Board, including Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, and N.M. Supreme Court Chief Justice Shannon Bacon voted unanimously Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, to certify the state’s midterm election results. (Photo courtesy of the Secretary of State’s Office)

New Mexico’s 2022 election is officially over after the state Canvassing Board certified the results of two automatic recounts Wednesday.

After certifying the rest of the results on Nov. 29, the board ordered recounts in Districts 32 and 68 because the margin of victory was so slim, with less than 50 votes separating the candidates in both races.

The recounts, held last week at the county level, did not change the results of either race.

Spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office Alex Curtas says it’s “a testament to the accuracy and integrity of New Mexico’s vote counting process” that no automatic recount — since they were established in 2008 — has changed an election result.

The count in southwest New Mexico’s District 32 remained identical to the original, with Republican Jennifer Jones maintaining a 46 vote lead over Democratic incumbent Candie Sweetser.

Sweetser is now officially one of only two incumbents to lose her House seat this election. The other was Republican Jane Powdrell-Culbert.

Democratic Rep.-Elect Charlotte Little’s lead over Republican candidate Robert Moss in the Albuquerque-area District 68 shrunk by one vote in the recount.

The State Canvassing Board includes Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Shannon Bacon, who was absent from the recount certification meeting, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Source New Mexico and KUNM News collaborated to bring you coverage of the 2022 election. This article was originally published by KUNM and is republished here with permission.

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Nash Jones, KUNM News

Nash Jones (they/them) grew up in Albuquerque and returned home in 2017 after 11 years away living in Portland, OR, and Oakland, CA. Storytelling and community education have consistently been at the core of Nash’s varied career and are, in part, what brought them to KUNM, first as a volunteer host with Spoken Word Hour and NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday, then as a staff member in the KUNM newsroom, hosting Morning Edition (2018-2021) and reporting. Nash currently hosts NPR's All Things Considered and continues to report for KUNM.