Las Cruces, NM— The Doña Ana County Commission, serving as the canvassing board, met Tuesday to finalize the canvassing process, and based on those results, State Rep. Mary Helen Garcia said in a statement that she will file for a hand recount of the results of the June primary election.
Rep. Garcia, who is Chairwoman of the House Voters and Elections Committee, has represented District 34 since 1997.
A margin of 16 votes or 1.8% of the total votes cast in the District 34 race, separate Rep. Garcia and challenger Belaquin Bill Gomez. Recently the Election Code was amended to mandate the margin of half a percentage point to trigger an automatic recount. In this case, Rep. Garcia said she will pay for the recount, and should the results change, the state will be responsible for the cost of the recount.
“In the past week, I have received countless phone calls and emails asking me to request a recount and exhaust the options provided me under the State Election Code. After discussing it with my family, I believe I owe it to my constituents to formally recount and review the results,” Rep. Garcia said. “Ironically, I have heard through testimony in my committee about elections being decided by one vote and results changing after a recount. Especially given the fact that only 16 votes separate us, the results can very easily shift.”
A Garcia statement said some individuals have approached the Garcia campaign who were given sample ballots that may have been deliberately marked to confuse voters.
The statement alleged that there is a history of serious accusations of election fraud in Sunland Park and a pending legal case dealing with election fraud specifically involving absentee ballots.
Rep. Garcia said she has been a vocal advocate on of the behalf of the people of Sunland Park in the effort to combat such crimes. Given this fact, the Garcia statement alleged that there may have been an illegal effort to defeat Rep. Garcia.
Depending on the outcome of the recount, the statement says Rep. Garcia will decide whether to challenge the election results.