In southeast NM Eddy County Republicans, Doña Ana Democrats led early absentee, in-person voting

Eddy County voters pushed the county to third in the state for overall ballots cast in early absentee and in-person voting, per Oct. 13 data from the New Mexico Secretary of State's office.

Voting opened Oct. 6 in New Mexico's 33 counties. Statewide, 71,056 votes were cast by Tuesday; of those 27,064 voters identified as Republican while Democrat voters accounted for 35,760. 

But in southeast New Mexico, Republican voters showed up in force.

In Eddy County 5,474 votes were cast by Oct. 13. Of those voters 4,022 self-identified as Republican and 1,087 as Democrats; 328 declined to identify, while 23 were noted as Libertarians and 14 as other.

In Chavez County 4,795 voters cast ballots, with 3,340 identifying as Republicans and 1,066 as Democrats; 322 declined to identified and 67 noted Libertarian or other.

In Lea County 1,701 votes included 1,371 voters who identified as Republican while 197 identified as Democrats. Two hundred ninety-five declined to identify and 16 were Libertarian or other.

In Otero county 2,531 votes were cast; 1,288 identified as Republican and only 932 voters self-identified as Democrats.

The trend held true in all counties but Doña Ana, which recorded 4,224 votes; of those 2,191 were Democrats and 1,477 were Republicans. 

Bernalillo County, which is home to the City of Albuquerque, leads New Mexico in overall votes cast with 20,364. Sandoval County which contains the City of Rio Rancho is second with 5,635. In both counties, votes cast by Democrats far outweigh those cast by Republicans.

And in northern New Mexico, San Juan County, experiencing the largest impact of the COVID-19 pandemic along with economic challenges from a declining oil and gas industry, recorded 3,382 votes. Of those 2,245 voters identified as Republican while 765 identified as Democrats.

Southeast counties lead in first week of voting 

Last week, southeast New Mexico Republican voters pushed Eddy County to second in the state in number of early and in-person ballots cast behind Doña Ana County, per data from the New Mexico Secretary of State's Office. 

By Oct. 6 Republicans in Eddy County had cast 2,192 in-person ballots and eight absentee ballots of the county's 2,934 votes. In Doña Ana County 3,059 votes were led by Democrats who cast 1,637 votes to the county's 1,015 Republican voters.

Election:Eddy County candidates disclose campaign contributions

Election:Southeast New Mexico Republicans are running unopposed in the 2020 General Election

The two counties' voters are part of the contested Second Congressional District between U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small and her Republican challenger Yvette Herrell.

Eddy is one of the state's conservative counties found in the southeast corner, along with Lea, Chaves and Otero counties.

This is part of ongoing election coverage, and this story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Jessica Onsurez can be reached at jonsurez@currentargus.com, @JussGREAT on Twitter at by phone at 575-628-5531.