A recount of some ballots in two Las Cruces city council districts confirmed the original results: Jack Eakman and Kasandra Gandara won their close races earlier this month.*
NM Political Report first reported earlier this month that those who lost wanted a recount.
The recount found no changes to the official results that were confirmed days after the election.
Eli Guzman, who lost in District 1, and Richard Hall, who lost to Eakman in District 4, sought a recall of five of the nine voting locations. Guzman and Hall asked for a recount of four voting convenience centers for election day voting and a fifth location that included early and absentee ballots.
Las Cruces, like other cities throughout the state, uses voting convenience centers to allow voters to cast ballots at any of the locations throughout the city.
Eakman and Gandara are considered progressives and each won despite spending by a conservative super PAC opposing their candidacy.
GOAL WestPAC made headlines locally and nationally for the high spending in the races. The PAC, which was funded fully by out-of-town donors, spent heavily in an attempt to defeat Eakman, Gandara and incumbent mayor Ken Miyagishima.
While the margins of victory were extremely close, Las Cruces does not have an automatic recount provision for municipal elections, and so Guzman and Hall had to request and pay for the recount themselves.
Miyagishima easily won reelection on election night. Gregory Z. Smith also won reelection easily.
*ProgressNow New Mexico aided both candidates in this race. ProgressNow New Mexico helps find funding for NM Political Report but has no editorial input on this or any other story.
