District attorney race ‘too close’ to call

The final results of the race for district attorney might not be known until mid-March.

El Paso County Elections administrator Lisa Wise told ABC-7 the race is too close to call and will remain that way until next week.

“I wouldn’t call anything,” Wise said. “”I would assume there will be a runoff, but I don’t want to say either way until the final numbers are in.”

The 34th Judicial Disitrict stretches from El Paso County to Hudspeth and Culberson counties.

Currently, District Attorney Jaime Esparza has 49.75 percent (24,760 votes) of the vote. He would need 50 percent plus one vote to avoid a runoff with challenger Yvonne Rosales, who currently has 28.8 percent (14,351 votes) of the vote. Candidate Leonard Morales has 21.41 percent of the vote (10,655).

However, Wise said the county elections department still has “a couple of provisional ballots” to go through, adding that she didn’t have the exact number because they’re still opening envelopes.

“I tell candidates election night results are not final,” Wise said.

Provisional ballots are the ones filled out by voters who didn’t present an ID, were not on the poll book, or not on the updated registry.

Those voters, Wise said, have a couple of days to go and get everything in order and make their vote count.

Furthermore, the election department can still receive mail-in ballots from military personnel and Americans overseas. The deadline for mail-in ballots is Monday.

On Monday, the election officials will get together and prepare the final count. They will pass that on to the parties for them to do their own canvassing March 10.

Once the parties are done, they send the numbers to the Secretary of State.