LIVE BLOG: Keep up with Election Day in Las Cruces

Las Cruces Sun-News
Updated ·13 min read

11:20 p.m.

We're Still waiting on word for when the ranked-choice tabulation will start. The Enriquez camp is excited and feeling optimistic. Decorations are being removed at the Gandara camp—still no word on when tabulation will start.

10:45 p.m.

Although a small number of votes remain to be counted, the county clerk will be running the ranked-choice tabulation tonight.

We will have winners tonight in the Mayor's race and several council races.

9:31 p.m.

From Leah Romero: The county clerk’s office updated the precincts that have been sent to the secretary of state. Election Day locations added include:

  • Del Cerro Community Center

  • Hatch High School

  • La Union Elementary

  • Vista Middle School

  • Desert Hills Elementary

  • Highland Elementary

  • La Mesa Fire Station

  • Loma Heights Elementary

  • Sunrise Elementary

9:10 p.m.

From reporter Leah Romero: The race is neck and neck for City Council District 2. Abeyta and Mattiace have both largely stayed near the 50% mark so far tonight, with one inching forward and the other soon catching up.

According to the secretary of state's office, 1,743 votes have been counted in this race. No voting precincts are fully reporting numbers in this race so far.

The combined watch party at The Amador for Kasandra Gandara and several council candidates – including Abeyta – is beginning to thin, though there are still the occasional shouts and clapping heard when numbers are updated. Candidates are still mixing and mingling with attendees.

9:02 p.m.

From Leah Romero: The Doña Ana County Clerk's Office has updated the voting locations where votes have been counted and sent to the secretary of state's office to report as unofficial results.

Election Day sites include:

  • Anthony Library

  • Doña Ana Community Center

  • Jornada Elementary

  • Santa Teresa Middle School

  • Doña Ana Community College – Chaparral

  • Mesquite Fire Station

  • Radium Springs Community Center

  • University Hills Elementary

  • Frank O'Brien Papen Center

  • Camino Real Middle School

  • Corbett Center NMSU

  • Las Alturas Fire Station

  • Mayfield High School

  • North Valley Elementary

  • Las Cruces High School

  • Mesilla Elementary

  • Tombaugh Elementary

  • Lynn Middle School

  • Fairacres Elementary

Early Voting sites include:

  • Anthony Public Library

  • Doña Ana Community College – Chaparral

  • Doña Ana Community College – East Mesa Las Cruces

  • Doña Ana Community College – Sunland Park

  • Hatch Valley High School

  • Las Cruces City Hall

  • Mesilla Town Hall

  • NMSU Corbett Center

The current numbers reflected on the SoS website reflect only the first round of ranked choice voting. Unofficial results can be seen here.

8:56 p.m.

From Justin Garcia: Mayor’s race remains close (for two candidates). Gandara is 39% while Enriquez is at 33%. Solis is well behind at 13%. In all, 8,902 votes have been counted, per the SoS website. It seems we’re likely to have a few rounds of instant runoff in the mayor’s race.

The mood at the Enriquez camp is cautious optimism. Enriquez is out and about talking with supporters and doing interviews. He said that nothing surprised him on the campaign trail. However, he said the kindness and openness from Las Cruces voters was a pleasant benefit of running for office.

Enriquez is hosting a watch party at the Mesilla Valley Mall, where his campaign offices have been for the last few months. He said that campaigning in the mall gave him a small family. The shopkeepers and the mall walkers became a part of the daily routine, he said.

8:51 p.m.

From reporter Ernesto Cisneros: Update in the Las Cruces school board races. In district 1, Patrick Nolan leads by 349 votes over Joseph Sousa. In district 4 incumbent Teresa Tenorio receives 45% (874 votes) over Julia Ruiz 32% (620 votes) and Edward Howell (469 votes). In district 5, Ed Frank receives 36% (853 votes) over incumbent Carol Cooper at 29% (684 votes), Jose Aranda at 23% (552 votes) and Ernest Carlson at 13% (301 votes).

8:45 p.m.

In the race for Las Cruces Mayor, Eric Enriquez and Kasandra Gandara jumped out to a considerable lead in the seven candidate field early in the evening.

With most of the first votes comprised of early voters, Gardara had an unofficial total of 3,444 votes (39 percent) and Enriquez had 2,051 according to the New Mexico Secretary of State website.

Isabella Solis was third with 1,199 votes.

8:07 p.m.

The Doña Ana County Clerk's Office announced that votes from five area voting locations have been counted and sent to the secretary of state's office. Locations are:

  • Fairacres Elementary

  • Lynn Middle School

  • Tombaugh Elementary

  • Las Cruces High

  • Mesilla Elementary

7:50 p.m.

From reporter Leah Romero: It has nearly been an hour since polls closed and incumbent Tessa Abeyta is leading by a small margin in the race for City Council District 2. She is sitting with 545 votes (52%) while Bill Mattiace has 506 votes (48%).

Stay tuned: it's still early hours.

7:49 p.m.

From reporter Justin Garcia: Kasandra Gandara leads in the early vote, with Eric Enriquez close behind. Gandara netted 2,952 votes (40%), and Enriquez earned 2,438 (33%). No other candidate surpassed 1,000 votes in the early totals. In all, early votes amounted to 7,379.

7:45 p.m.

From reproter Ernesto Cisneros: Precincts partially reporting — Incumbent Las Cruces school board member Carol Cooper trails Ed Frank who is currently leading by roughly 170 votes. Patrick Nolan and Teresa Tenorio are leading in their races.

7:40 p.m

From reporter Justin Garcia: Early results for District Four show incumbent Johana Bencomo with 609 votes and the lead. Gabriel Duran sits second with 329 votes, Lorenzo Medina in third with 107 votes, and Ramon Ortega in fourth with 74 votes, per state Secretary of State. In all, 1,119 votes have been counted. If no candidate can pull at least 50 percent of the vote (which Bencomo is currently above) in this round, an instant run-off between the top three candidates will occur. See all the results as they come in here.

7:19 p.m.

From Leah Romero, reporting from Kasandra Gandara's watch party: Family, friends and supporters of mayor hopeful Kasandra Gandara and several other city council candidates are trickling into The Amador for the election night watch party.

Councilors Johana Bencomo and Tessa Abeyta are here, along with Councilor Becky Curran, Sen. Bill Soules, Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart and Rep. Angelica Rubio.

7:17 p.m.

From Justin Garcia reporting from Eric Enriquez' watch party: "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry echoes throughout the Mesilla Valley Mall to a mostly empty set up. Booths, chairs, and a stage are all set up an hour before a watch party for mayor hopeful Eric Enriquez is set to start.

People are shuffling in; votes are being posted.

7 p.m.

Polls in Doña Ana County have closed.

Please visit www.lcsun-news.com/elections/results/local to follow updated election results.

6:30 p.m.

From reporter Leah Romero: About half an hour before polls close, the line to vote at Doña Ana County East Mesa Campus is slowing down. Presiding Judge Maryann Daves said there were no issues throughout the day. The location was just busy from the time doors opened.

Nearly 1,300 people voted at the new voting convenience location this election.

Machine Judge Paula Crowder was in charge of same day registration at DACC. She said the process was "rough" because there were so many people to register it overloaded the process. However, everyone was taken care of.

5:27 p.m.

According to the New Mexico Office of the Secretary of State, 19,784 people have voted in Doña Ana County this election. Specifically on Election Day, 9,395 people voted in-person Tuesday.

The office updated the numbers one more time before unofficial results begin rolling in after polls close at 7 p.m. Live result updates can be viewed online at electionresults.sos.state.nm.us.

5:11 p.m.

From Reporter Justin Garcia: The Turner Family was thinking about two issues as they stood in line to vote at the Doña Ana County Government Center: Education and Affordable housing.

"One major thing is housing," said Marsha Turner, a registered nurse in Las Cruces. "I'd really like to see that upgraded. I do home health, and so I've encountered several clients who required assistance."

Marsha Turner stood in line with her husband, Jim Turner, and her mother, Mary Turner.

"I see all these sports fields and all these kids coming into the sports fields," Mary Turner said. "But I don't see the teachers getting paid very much."

Jim Turner said he's disappointed to see the city annexing land and not building more affordable housing.

"They're not putting any affordable housing out there at all. Just $100,000 homes for people moving here from California and Colorado," Jim Turner said.

4:30 p.m.

From Reporter Jason Groves: There was a steady line of between 20 and 30 residents at the City Hall polling location, where it took voters between five and 20 minutes to vote.

Derek Schostag normally votes at City Hall and was voting on his way home from work. He said voting for in the Mayoral election was what brought him to the polls on Tuesday.

"There were seven candidates," Schostag said. "I think there were two or three of them who were decent so at least I felt like I was giving them a chance."

Virginia Lujan normally votes at Sonoma Elementary because it's closer to her home, but Sonoma Elementary is not a polling station this year.

Voters have become accustomed to ranked choice voting, where voters select candidates in order of preference. This year's municipal election is the third election ranked choice voting is available.

"I would prefer a system where you just vote for one candidate instead of ranking them in order, but I can see the benefits of having your preferences listed," said Jordan Egan, who usually votes at City Hall. "It was 1 through 7 for the mayor. I ranked all seven, but I think I could have stopped at my top three."third

2:23 p.m.

From Reporter Jason Groves: In the five-person race for Anthony Trustee, what Doña Ana County Clerk Dr. Amanda López Askin described as "human error" one resident received the incorrect ballot. Monica Venegas voted at the City of Anthony Library polling location, but the ballot she received only had candidates for school board and not the trustee election. Venegas pointed it out to election workers.

López Askin confirmed the error occurred and that Venegas was one of 15 voters who were assigned the wrong precinct part following redistricting in 2020. While Venegas will not be able to vote in the municipal election, López Askin said the glitch has been corrected and that the other 14 voters in the same precinct part will be issued the correct ballot if they show up to vote today.

"One voter believed that she should have voted in the Anthony municipal election and she was correct," López Askin said. "Like I said to the voter, even one is too many. But we were able to fix it. No other voters will be affected."

López Askin said Tuesday has ran smoothly so far.

"There has been nothing out of the norm so far," she said. "We have had to remind some candidates to respect the boundaries at some polling locations."

2 p.m.

From reporter Leah Romero: Doña Ana Community College's East Mesa Campus is a new Election Day polling location, replacing Sonoma Ranch Elementary just up the road. Poll Watcher Kate Mangelsdorf, with the League of Women Voters, said the location has been steadily busy all day. There is about a 10 minute wait to get through the line and receive your ballot.

Mangelsdorf and Myr Dawson, a voter, said the location was simple enough to find, just different to their norm.

Several people said they were not necessarily motivated to vote this year based on a particular race, but the duty to vote in general. Sebastian Indacochea is originally from Peru and said the law is that people are taxed if they do not vote in the South American country. When he became a U.S. citizen, he continued this mentality.

Dawson added that she believes ranked choice voting is a good idea and saves the time and expense of holding runoff elections.

"Maybe your first choice doesn't get it but maybe your second choice does, so I think it's a good idea," Dawson said.

1:55 p.m.From Reporter Justin Garcia: At the Dona Ana County Government Center, dozens of residents were in line during the 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. hour. The flow of voters is nonstop.It takes about 15 minutes to get through the line right now and about 30 minutes to an hour to compete same day voter registration. Some voters here have expressed disappointment that they can’t vote in municipal elections because they live outside city limits.

1:04 p.m.

The New Mexico Office of the Secretary of State updated the numbers for how many people have voted so far across the state. In Doña Ana County, 15,461 total people have voted so far. Of this number, 5,080 people voted on Election Day.

Three hundred people who voted today have taken advantage of same day registration in the county.

1:09 p.m.

Check out Photojournalist Meg Potter's photos from today's polling locations.

10:30 a.m. Doña Ana County Clerk announces changes to election night procedures

Due to legislation that was passed in January and took effect in June, the absent voter election board will recess at 11 p.m. on election night if not all votes have been counted, and continue to count votes if needed from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on each subsequent day.

In previous years, the Election Board would not adjourn until all votes were counted.

“With new legislation comes changes that we want voters to be aware of,” Doña Ana County Clerk Dr. Amanda López Askin said in a news release.

“Please know that when you are waiting for election results, there are hundreds of community members that are working hard to get those results to you as quickly as possible while always prioritizing adhering to the law and processes that protect the integrity of our elections.”

10:15 a.m. Las Cruces mayoral race: Get to know the candidates

The Sun-News profiled the Las Cruces mayoral candidates over a series of weeks.

Here's a look at each of the names on the ballot and where those candidates stand on the issues.

7 a.m.

Voting locations throughout Las Cruces are now open. Eligible voters can visit any number of voting locations.

If you have not been following Las Cruces Sun-News coverage of local races, you can find a quick recap of candidates, their views and other important election information in our local election guide.

LOCAL ELECTION GUIDE: Everything to know to vote in Las Cruces local elections

Find a voting location near you on the map below:

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: LIVE BLOG: Keep up with Election Day in Las Cruces