AP: Torres Small wins congressional race after thousands of absentee votes counted

Democrat Xochitl Torres Small is now the projected winner for District 2 U.S. Representative in New Mexico after an “unprecedented” number of absentee ballots were counted.

With all precincts fully reporting at 6:36 p.m. on Wednesday, Torres Small had 99,440 votes (50.70%) while Republican Yvette Herrell had 96,712 (49.30%).

On Tuesday night, 4,974 absentee ballots were tabulated, said Lindsey Bachman, the Deputy Doña Ana County Clerk. In total, the clerk’s office received close to 8,000 absentee ballots, which they say is quadruple the number they have received in the past.

The more than 8,000 absentee ballots were crucial because the race for New Mexico’s second congressional had not been called. As of 12:30 p.m., Democrat Xochitl Torres Small trailed Republican Yvette Herrell by 2,000 votes.

Doña Ana County made the difference: 6,411 absentee votes went to Torres Small while 1,847 went to Herrell.

“We had an unprecedented amount,” said Amanda López Askin, the Doña Ana County Clerk. “We were not expecting it. Frankly, we did not have the people infrastructure in place.”

The absent voter board in Doña Ana County finished tabulating the absentee ballots into the early evening on Wednesday.

“This is a vote,” López Askin said. “It is an important document that we want to make sure is counted. So, there’s an appropriate way to do it and it isn’t always fast.”

The absentee ballots were not counted by the Clerk’s office: By state statute, an appointed absent ballot board is in charge of tabulating the absentee ballots. On Tuesday, the seven-member board counted ballots for 15 hours, López Askin said.

“I saw the fatigue,” said López Askin. “I saw the swollen hands of opening ballots… I didn’t want them to make mistakes.”

López Askin said the board needed extra time to make sure the job was done accurately.

“It’s important that this office moving forward is transparent,” López Askin said. “It is important that people know we want to do the right thing and we want to have ethical and fair elections for everybody.”