Torres Small officially wins NM congressional race

Democratic nominee Xochitl Torres Small has officially been declared the winner of New Mexico’s second congressional district, after the Secretary of State’s office certified all the votes.

Torres Small became the projected winner the day after election night when absentee ballots were counted.

On election day, Republican candidate Yvette Herrell held a 1,000 vote lead, but absentee ballots were not counted until the following day. The Doña Ana County Elections office said it decided to count the ballots the next day when staff members who were counting votes became fatigued.

Torres Small gave an acceptance speech after the Doña Ana County ballots were tallied. Herrell, however, has not conceded the race.

Herrell’s campaign said it plans to file an appeal to impound all the votes in an order to trigger an automatic recount.

A recount is automatically done when a race is closer than one percent.

After all votes were certified, Torres Small had 50 percent of the votes and Herrell had 49 percent.