Public lands commissioner recount begins Monday

Curry, Roosevelt and Quay county officials will participate in a state recount of votes in the race for public lands commissioner. The recount begins on Monday.

A preliminary canvass of votes for the Nov. 4 general election showed candidates Ray Powell and Aubrey Dunn were separated by 14 hundredths of 1 percent of the vote.

The unofficial results show Dunn, a Republican, the winner over the Democrat Powell.

If the margin is less than one-half of 1 percent, state law requires an automatic recount, officials said.

New Mexico’s Secretary of State Dianna Duran has ordered all counties start a new canvass of the votes.

Recounts will be conducted by a precinct board, a district judge, and the county clerk in each county.

In Quay County, the effort will involve Tenth Judicial District Judge Albert Mitchell, Clerk Veronica Mares and a precinct board, said Ellen White, a deputy county clerk.

In Curry County, the canvass will involve the county clerk, a Ninth Judicial District judge and the absentee precinct board, and could involve poll watchers from the Democratic and Republican parties, said Ann Mary Wylie, an election specialist with the clerk’s office.

In Roosevelt County, another Ninth District judge will join County Clerk De Aun Searl and the absentee circuit board, Searl said.

Smaller counties, including Quay and Roosevelt, are expected to complete the canvass in a single day, an order from Duran’s office said, but some of the larger counties will be allowed up to five days.

Wylie said Curry County’s canvassing should be complete within two days.