Only seven votes added to area county totals

Four area counties reported almost no changes from Tuesday when they reviewed election totals late last week.

County officials in Curry, Quay, Roosevelt and DeBaca added a combined seven votes to election-night numbers, not nearly enough to influence the outcome of a close Amendment 2 race.

Amendment 2, a proposal to increase education funding by increasing the payout from a state permanent fund, was losing by 23 votes after Tuesday’s unofficial totals were reported to state officials. The Associated Press reported on Friday that the measure is now passing by 219 votes, following reviews from county clerks across the state.

Curry County officials said they added four previously uncounted votes to their official totals during the review process; Roosevelt County added three and Quay County two. DeBaca county had no changes from Tuesday.

“We’ve been through every envelope and every permit,” said Coni Jo Lyman, chief deputy clerk for Curry County. “We found no discrepancies. What we have found were these four (absentee-in-lieu-of) ballots that were uncounted, so the totals we had on election night did not change over the weekend -- except for these four ballots.”

The state canvassing board will meet Oct. 14 to certify the statewide results. The outcome of the election will not become final until then.