KOAT tracks Valencia County primary election results in live hub

Thirty-two candidates filed for Valencia County offices in the June 2 primary, and KOAT’s live countywide results hub gave voters one place to watch the county’s most consequential races as precincts reported. In a county of 76,205 people, the numbers mattered far beyond a scoreboard: commissioner seats, the sheriff’s office, the assessor and probate judge all sit close to the tax, development, water, public safety and service decisions that shape daily life in Valencia County.

The sheriff’s race was the biggest single contest on the ballot, with six candidates filing, while other contested races included county commission, magistrate, assessor and probate judge. Names in the mix included Alan Fredrick Montano, Gabriel Trujillo, Joseph Eugene Rowland, Preston Wade Smith, Kevin Marcos Vega, Christopher K. Williams, Christopher Steven Garcia, Helen Saiz, Morris R. Sparkman, Sharon L. Smith, Celia Dittmaier, Burgandy Bree Casias, Wendy Emily Wallace and Pedro Rael, reflecting a field wide enough to keep attention on each update as ballots were counted.

The live hub mattered because New Mexico’s semi-open primary system, which took effect July 1, 2025, let unaffiliated, independent and Declined-to-State voters choose a Republican or Democratic ballot without changing registration. That change made turnout and ballot mix more important on election night, especially in a county where small shifts can move a close race and reshape who carries local decisions into November.

Valencia County voters also had a longer run-up to Election Day than many casual observers might realize. Early voting ran from May 5 through May 30, 2026, absentee ballots could first be mailed on May 5, and requests were due by 5 p.m. on May 19. Election Day voting ran from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on June 2, with same-day registration available during the early-voting and Election Day periods.

The reason a live tracker drew so much attention was simple: Valencia County has seen how closely watched local contests can be. In the 2024 primary, all 66 of 66 precincts were fully reported, and several countywide races were decided by only a few thousand votes or fewer. For residents in Los Lunas, Belen, Bosque Farms, Peralta and Rio Communities, the KOAT hub was less about a distant political ritual than about watching which leaders would soon be positioned to influence budgets, services and the county’s next round of local choices.