| Dear Las Crucens,The November 2023 local election will be an important one for Las Cruces. There will be 3 City Council seats, 3 School Board seats, Municipal Judge, and Mayor on the November 2023 ballot. PLEASE VOTE IN THIS IMPORTANT ELECTION! Where and When to VoteEarly voting is happening now through November 4th. Election Day is November 7th. Go here for full list of locations for early voting and Election Day 👇👇👇:https://www.donaanacountyelections.com/locations/ RANK CHOICE VOTINGAll City Council and Mayor positions will have Rank Choice Voting (RCV) elections. RCV can be confusing, but here is a summary of how it works:If one candidate gets 51% or greater of the votes in the first voting tally, that person wins the election. However, if no one gets 51% of the votes in the first voting tally, then there is an instant-runoff election as follows. the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated and those who had voted for that candidate will have their votes reassigned to whoever they had chosen as their 2nd choice. This process is repeated as many times as necessary until one of the candidates achieves 51% or greater of the votes.It is recommended to rank ALL of the candidates on the ballot to make sure that your vote is still considered in subsequent rounds. IF YOU DON’T RANK ALL OF THE CANDIDATES, THEN YOU WILL POTENTIALLY LOSE YOUR VOICE IN SUBSEQUENT ROUNDS OF RANK CHOICE VOTING. For instance, in the Mayor’s race, if you only rank 2 candidates and they get eliminated in the first two rounds, then you would have NO vote in the subsequent rounds. The 2019 Mayor election went 9 rounds before the winner was declared, and if you only voted for a couple candidates, you possibly had NO vote in the last 7 rounds of voting. If you rank your least favorite candidate last, your vote will NEVER count for that person. This is because the candidate will always be running against someone else. For instance, if you ranked Gandara last for Mayor, your vote would never count for her because she would always be running against one of the other candidates who you ranked higher. Las Cruces MayorMayor Miyagishima is NOT seeking re-election. The following 7 people are running for Mayor.Eric Enriquez – Moderate Democrat, former Fire Chief, and former assistant City Manager. His top priority is making Las Cruces safer. I think he has the best chance of winning against Gandara.Isabella Solis Gina Ortega Mike TellezMaria HernandezAlexander FresquezMayor Pro Tem Kasandra Gandara (the far-left progressive pick for Mayor: currently she is City Councilor for District 1)Las Cruces City Council |
| Districts 1, 2, and 4 are up for election. City Council positions are generally won by only a few hundred votes. You can view the City Council District Map here: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=19f66e403373475ab0cd6e794a7a748b |
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| City Council District 1 There is no incumbent since Councilor Gandara is running for Mayor.Daniel Buck – Conservative Democrat who is very concerned about crime and homelessness issues in Las Cruces. I think he has the best chance of winning against McClure.Patrick PotterJason EstradaMark O’NeillCassandra McClure (she is the far-left progressive choice) City Council District 2 Bill Mattiace – former Las Cruces MayorCouncilor Tessa Abeyta (incumbent – she is the far-left progressives choice) City Council District 4 Gabriel Duran Jr. – I think he has the best chance of winning against Bencomo. Lorenzo M. MedinaRamon OrtegaCouncilor Johana Bencomo (incumbent – she is the far-left progressive choice) School BoardSchool Board Districts 1, 4, and 5 are up for election. School board elections are NOT Rank Choice Vote elections. School Board District 1Joseph W. SousaPatrick Nolan (far-left progressive and husband of City Councilor Johanna Bencomo) School Board District 4 Julia RuizEdward HowellTeresa Tenorio (incumbent: she is the far-left progressives choice and wife of Doña Ana County Commissioner Manny Sanchez) School Board District 5 Carol Cooper (incumbent and she IS a conservative)Ernest CarlsonJose L. Aranda Ed Frank You can see the district maps for school board here: https://www.lcps.net/page/district-maps |
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| The future of our City is hanging in the balance in this year’s election. Please vote for change in Las Cruces! Standing with you in solidarity,Sarah Smith |
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