Eigenmann, Cairns win in recount of local school board elections
A recount of the ballots cast for the at-large seat on the Cloudcroft School Board and Tularosa School Board was completed by Otero County last week.
The at-large seats on the Cloudcroft School Board District and Tularosa School Board District had too thin of a margin to call Nov. 7. State election law requires an automatic recount if the margin between the top two candidates is less than 1%.
Otero County Election Coordinator Selina Maes said the Otero County Clerk's office sent in the results of the recount Dec. 5 to the office of the New Mexico Secretary of State. The Clerk's office received a confirmation email Dec. 13.
Jeffrey Eigenmann had three more votes than Cassandra Saffle, and will be sworn in to Cloudcroft school board. The two other at-large seats on the board went to Daniel Hughes and Danny Ward.
More: Otero County 2023 local election face recount for Tularosa and Cloudcroft school districts
Megan Cairns will take the at-large seat on the Tularosa School Board, having received 21 more votes than Erica Walters. The other two seats on this school board will be filled by Gilbert Gaston and Francisco Jose Gomez.
Maes said she was informed the recount results were not yet reported on the New Mexico Secretary of State website.
An audit of the election was also done Monday, Dec. 5 by Otero County Clerk Robyn Holmes.
"This process is a way of verifying that the tabulators used in the election are working properly. We have done this for numerous elections in the past and there has never been a change in the outcome," Holmes said.
The New Mexico State Canvass Board met Dec. 12 to certify the results of the recount.
Jessica Onsurez can be reached at jonsurez@gannett.com.
Juan Corral can be reached at JCorral@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter at @Juan36Corr.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Eigenmann, Ciarns win in recount of school board election ballots
