By ROB LARSON
Daily Press Staff Writer
After Judge Daniel Reyes of the Artesia Magistrate Court looked over the unofficial voting results today in a process called canvassing, Artesia’s Municipal Election came to an official close.
Little was changed from Tuesday’s unofficial voting results. However, according to Assistant City Clerk Lisa Johnston, Manuel Madrid Jr. was accidently given an extra 100 votes in early voting/absentee ballots; the error, however, wasn’t enough for incumbent Manuel Barragan to win the district. Officially, District 1 voted 229-148 in favor of Madrid. … For the rest of the story, subscribe in print and on the web.
Other results of the Municipal Election include: District 2 voted 188-89 in favor of Nora Sanchez over Jose Luis Gabaldon; in District 3, Jeff Youtsey won over incumbent J.B. Smith, 227-206; and Bill Rogers was reelected over challenger Beverly Sweatt, 296-57.
Additionally, Artesia Police Department Commander Richard Martinez won the municipal judge election with 699 votes. Challenger Luis Florez received 601 votes, and write-in candidate Don Rindahl received 65 votes.
The capital outlay gross receipts tax increase of .25 percent was also approved by voters on Tuesday, receiving a wide margin of 934 votes in favor, 453 opposed. With the tax increase, the city will be able to move forward with the Infrastructure Recovery Plan as they had hoped.
