Election '24 is in the books, made official by the State Canvass Board this week. It turns out the closest race of all did not have any candidates. That was the race to beat the turnout of the last presidential election in 2020. 

And talk about a hot contest. 

This year 928,290 New Mexicans cast general election ballots. In the last presidential election year in 2020 turnout was nearly identical with 928,230 votes cast. That's a tiny difference of 60 votes. Talk about a cliff-hanger!

Unlike political contests no one was biting their nails over the closeness of the turnout contest, but the finish was still thrilling for the political junkies. 

As for the percentage of registered voters taking part, this year official numbers say it was 67.13 percent. In 2020 when slightly fewer were registered to vote turnout was 68.2 percent. 

Neither mark comes close to the all-time modern record of 2008 when Obama was elected president. That year a whopping 833,365 votes were tallied for a record 70.4 percent of all registered state voters.

A surprise from this election was the popularity of the new law allowing voters to register and vote on the same day. 25,485 did so. That was a challenge for some election officials and will have them working to make the process smoother in the future.

BY THE NUMBERS

Final official results from the SOS:

Total Registered Voters eligible to participate in this election – 1,382,761 Total Voter Turnout – 928,290 (67.13%) Absentee Turnout – 111,403 (12.00%) Early Voting Turnout – 556,281 (59.93%) Election Day Turnout – 252,515 (27.20%) Hand Tally/Provisional – 8,091 (0.87%) Use of Same-Day Voter Registration (Early Voting and Election Day) – 52,358 Election Day SDR transactions – 25,485 

RECOUNTS

The State Canvass Board--composed of the Governor, Secretary of State and Chief Justice of the NM Supreme Court--ordered automatic recounts in two close contests, including House District 57 in Sandoval County. GOP Rep. Catherine Cullen holds a 130 vote lead over Dem hopeful Michelle Sandoval. While qualifying for an automatic recount, a margin of that size is rarely overturned. The Board also ordered an automatic recount for an at-large position on the Los Alamos County Commission.

BEATING THE LINE 

Campaign consultants for Dem state Sen. Moe Maestas are pleased with the final results. They say the District 26 ABQ Westside lawmaker received more votes than either Sen. Heinrich or Kamala Harris. Maestas hails from a heavily Hispanic area, a group Trump improved with this election. Maestas  represented the area for years as a state rep. He was appointed to fill a senate vacancy and now will serve his first elected term.  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

This is our 21st Thanksgiving in this space (yikes!) and we're grateful to be able to wish you Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for making this the #1 NM political blog over these many years. Knowing how busy life can be today, we are appreciative of everyone who takes a moment to tune in. (If we keep it up, we just might become a tradition. :)

Happy Thanksgiving, New Mexico.

Reporting from Albuquerque, I'm Joe Monahan. 

This is The Home of New Mexico Politics.