Valencia County

With 168 provisional and 75 ballots left to hand count, Valencia County saw some very close races Tuesday night.

Turnout hit nearly 57 percent, with 24,381 voters casting ballots out of 42,908 registered voters.

Valencia County almost elected its first female sheriff this year, but Democrat Denise Romero came up 81 votes short to Republican Jeff Noah. Romero received 11,026 votes to Noah’s 11,107.

In the County Commission races, one incumbent lost her bid for a second term, while another retained his seat for another four years.

Helen Cole, the Democratic incumbent for District 1, pulled in 2,155 votes, compared with Republican challenger Gerard Saiz with 2,891. Saiz is currently a city councilor for the village of Los Lunas.

In District 3, incumbent David Hyder, a Republican, narrowly beat Democrat Juanita Herrera by 88 votes, 2,299 to 2,211

District 2 had only one candidate, Republican David Carlberg, who is the incumbent by default after being appointed a second time to the seat following the sudden death of Republican Georgia Otero-Kirkham. She was only candidate who filed to run for the seat this year and, after the primary, was the presumed commissioner for the district. Carlberg received 2,301 votes.

The new county assessor is no stranger to the office. Beverly Dominguez Romero, a Democrat, served as the assessor from 1999-2006 and received 10,977 votes. Her challenger, Republican Kori Taylor, was close behind with 10,954.

The unchallenged Democrat for Valencia County probate judge position, incumbent Jamie Goldberg, received 15,287 votes.

Of the three magistrate races, only one was a competition. In Division 2, Republican incumbent John Chavez beat Democrat Jennie Valdez, 12,611 votes to 9,251.

Division 1 magistrate Tina Garcia, a Democrat, was elected to another term with 14,933 votes, and Division 3 Republican incumbent John “Buddy” Sanchez took 16,968 votes.