District 63 race going into recount

SANTA FE — As expected, the House District 63 race is going into a recount.

The Secretary of State’s Office currently has Clovis Republican Martin Zamora holding a 27-vote lead over incumbent Democrat George Dodge — 2,982-2,955.

It’s one of three legislative races going into a recount, and it’s by far the closest. Democrat Abbas Akhil leads Jim Dines by 109 votes in their District 20 race, while Republican Gregg Williams Schmedes leads Jessica Velasquez by 138 votes in District 22. An automatic recount is triggered when the margin of victory is less than 1 percent.

The state canvassing board met Tuesday, and ordered recounts for the District 22 and 63 races, according to Alex Curtas, communications director for the Secretary of State’s Office. The board recessed until Friday, when it is expected to order the recount for District 20. The recount process is different for 20 because the district is entirely within one county.

District 63 includes Curry, DeBaca, Guadalupe, Roosevelt. and San Miguel counties.

“The recount process has to take place within 10 calendar days of the order they get from the state canvassing board,” Curtas said. “The counties that encompass the district will get an order. Basically, it’s kind of a mini-election. They find and organize all of the applicable ballots, do a machine tally and a hand tally, then compare those numbers. They make sure the machine count and the hand counts are correct.”

On election night, generally only machine tallies are used.

“They keep counting until they’re sure everything is matching up,” Curtas said of the recount. “Obviously, the point of all of it is not to have discrepancies.”

Dodge, who is the Guadalupe County Manager, told the Santa Rosa Communicator he is prepared for whatever the recount shows.

“I’m always hopeful,” said Dodge, who has held the District 63 seat since 2011. “If it doesn’t (change) I’m prepared to get on with my life.” Either way, he said, “the people have spoken.”

Zamora told the Communicator he has hired counsel for the process, but he doesn’t expect the results will change.

“This is a legal proceeding,” Zamora said, “and we just want to make sure we have an attorney watching it.”

Dodge said he has not hired an attorney “at this point.” He said that while he hasn’t conceded the election, he has called Zamora and congratulated him on a good race.

All other elections were certified at Tuesday’s meeting, Curtas said. The successful candidates will begin receiving certificates of election on Dec. 7. A certificate of election is required for a candidate to take office.