Sandoval County Commission certifies Rio Rancho runoff election results

Serving as the election canvassing board on April 15, the Sandoval County Commission voted unanimously to certify the results of the 2024 runoff elections in Rio Rancho that took place on April 9.

The commission voted 4-0 to certify the runoff election results that saw Deborah Dapson unseat incumbent Jim Owen in District 1 and Nicole List, who was appointed to the city council in August, win the District 6 seat over Edward Paulsgrove.

Owen, who was mayor from 2002-06 and was elected to city council in 2016, had 398 (47%) votes to Dapson’s 442 (53%).

List had 416 (51%) votes compared to Paulsgrove’s 393 (49%).

The newly elected city councilors will be sworn in April 25 and officially take office May 1.

Rio Rancho, as part of the city charter, opted out of the New Mexico Local Election Act, meaning municipal officer elections take place in March of every even-numbered year and are handled by the municipal clerk. If they opted into the LEA, elections would be held in November of every odd-numbered year and would be managed by the Sandoval County clerk, who is responsible for covering the costs.

Rio Rancho City Clerk Rebecca Martinez said Rio Rancho is not eligible to opt into the LEA because the city requires a photo ID to vote.

The city of Rio Rancho held the runoff election for District 1 and 6 city councilors because no candidate in the March 5 election received a majority of the votes cast, as required by the city’s charter.

Martinez presented a canvass report to the Sandoval County Commission on April 15 showing that of the 25,282382 eligible voters in those two districts in Sandoval County, only 1,651 voted in the runoff election, which is a voter turnout of 6.54%. There were 29 absentee votes, 986 early votes and 654 votes on election day.

The canvass report presented to the Sandoval County Commission on March 15 showed that of the 74,282 eligible voters in Sandoval County, only 5,139 voted in the March 5 election, which is a voter turnout of 6.92%.

That’s down from a voter turnout of about 9% in 2020 and 9.9% in 2016. The mayoral election in 2022 had a 14% turnout, and the 2018 election was 16%.

The cost for the 2024 regular municipal election was approximately $230,763.87. The additional cost for the runoff was not available.

This was the last election for Martinez, who is retiring at the end of the month. She has run more than 30 elections throughout her career.

“I just want to say thank you for all the great work you've done running elections here in the City of Vision,” District 2 Commissioner Jay Block said.