Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Jerri Rush and Robert Lopez easily captured their respective Republican and Democratic primary nominations for open Quay County Commission seats Tuesday night amid stronger-than-usual voter turnout fueled by a record number of absentee ballots.
Rush, 49, a rancher, farmer and substitute teacher in Forrest, defeated Todd Duplantis, 52, a business owner and Tucumcari city commissioner, by nearly a 2-to-1 margin in the Republican race for District 2 that encompasses the southwest part of the county.
Rush gained a total of 839 votes (65%) to Duplantis’ 443 votes in unofficial results.
Rush would replace current county commissioner Mike Cherry, who is term-limited, if an independent doesn’t file for candidacy later this summer. No Democrat filed for office for that seat in the primary.
Duplantis didn’t seem discouraged about the loss to Rush.
“I think she’s going to do a wonderful job,” he said inside the county courthouse minutes after the results were announced. “In the first interview we had, I said either one of us could be a win-win. I’ve long believed it’s what the people want. If they feel she can do a good job, I support her.”
Rush thanked the voters who cast ballots for her.
“I appreciate their support greatly,” she said in the same courthouse hallway minutes after the final results were compiled. “I did the best job I knew out of running. I put out signs, I got on Facebook, I talked to people.”
Lopez, 56, a farmer and business owner, won the Democratic nomination for the county’s District 1 seat by nearly a 4-to-1 margin over Daniel Garcia, 78, a retiree.
Lopez gained 683 votes (79%) to Garcia’s 177 votes. District 1 encompasses the northwest part of the county.
Lopez would replace current county commissioner Sue Dowell, who also is term-limited, if an independent doesn’t file for candidacy this summer. No Republican filed for that seat in the primary.
“I’m looking forward to serving Quay County, and I’m anxious to get started,” Lopez said during a telephone interview at his home Tuesday night.
Garcia, his opponent, turned gracious in defeat.
“I congratulate him; he won,” Garcia said in the courthouse shortly after results were announced. “That’s who the voters wanted.”
County Clerk Ellen White said only about a dozen provisional ballots were cast in the county, so the local results would stand.
White reported 2,214 of the county’s 4,735 registered voters cast a vote in the primary, a turnout of over 46%. A check by her of other primary elections in the past decade found no turnout above 39%.
White attributed the strong turnout to a record number of absentee ballots. She said more than 1,100 voters cast absentee ballots by mail, blowing past the previous county record of 90. More than half voted absentee during the primary.
County clerks across New Mexico encouraged voters to cast an absentee ballot in the safety of their homes because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The New Mexico Supreme Court several weeks ago rejected a petition from more than two dozen clerks hold a mail-in primary election, but the court ordered the Secretary of State to mail absentee-ballot applications to each registered voter.
White said her office encountered no real problems at in-person voting centers across the county Tuesday, despite additional protocols to encourage social distancing and other safeguards for voters and election workers.
Ballots still were being counted slowly at 9:15 p.m. Tuesday across the state, and no winner had been declared in federal and state races.
An updated story will be published in next week’s edition of the Quay County Sun.