Las Cruces House Race Now is 1-Vote Race

UPDATE 6:17 pm.  State Election Bureau director Bobbi Shearer just called to say that in the District 37 race Ferrary now leads McMillian by one vote, Bobbi Shearer just said. She said they found two more provisional ballots that had one vote for Ferrary and one without a vote in that race. This race still  isgoing to recount.

Original post below:

I just spoke with state Election Bureau director Bobbi Shearer who told me that all the absentee and provisional ballots have been counted in the state House race between incumbent Republican Terry McMillan and Democrat Joanne Ferrary ... and it's a tie.

It's been known since election night that the District 37 race was heading for an automatic recount. Unofficial results initially showed Ferrary with a 12-vote lead. But once local election officials started counting absentee and provisional ballots, Ferrary's lead began shrinking.

Shearer said the state will canvass the vote, then the recount will begin.

Another House race might be headed for a recount as well. In the District 23 race in Sandoval County, Republican Paul Pacheco was leading Democrat Marci Blaze by 69 votes according to unofficial returns on election night. That's only 1 vote shy of the number needed for an automatic recount (one tenth of one percent of the total vote.)

Shearer said she was not yet certain about the final count for Sandoval County.

UPDATE: As stated above, the McMillan/Ferrary race number is not final. However if this remains a tie, it would be the first legislative race since Bill Payne, now GOP Senate whip, won his first race by a coin toss in 1996.