Associated Press: House race drags on after vote-counting board walks out
Associated Press: House race drags on after vote-counting board walks out
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A Republican congressional primary remained undecided on Thursday as local election regulators in northern New mexico tallied a deluge of absentee ballots.
Vote tabulation stretched into a third day in Taos and Santa Fe counties, as three Republicans competed for the 3rd Congressional District nomination and the chance to succeed U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan as he runs for U.S. Senate. Sen. Tom Udall is retiring.
The contenders are Navajo Nation member Karen Evette Bedonie of Mexican Springs, environmental engineer Alexis Johnson of Santa Fe and former Santa Fe County commissioner Harry Montoya. …
More than 247,000 absentee ballots were cast statewide — up from about 23,000 in 2016 — as state authorities encouraged people to vote remotely by mail to guard against the coronavirus.
Overall voting surged past 375,000 from roughly 320,000 in the 2016 presidential primary. Former Vice President Joe Biden won the Democratic presidential nomination, and Trump won state GOP backing to seek reelection.
“What you can see is our electorate is more engaged than it has been in a primary for decades,” said Heather Ferguson, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico. “They’ve had some time for life to slow down. … They were watching more news, getting more input about this election. They got fired up and wanted to vote.”
At the same time, Ferguson said Common Cause is taking stock of whether participation was hindered by the state’s timetable for initiating absentee ballot applications and lengthy delivery times in remote regions.