GRANTS – Cibola County voters delivered strong support for local hospitals and schools in the 2025 Regular Local Election while choosing new and returning leaders for city councils, the school board and a range of special districts.
Statewide, 351,036 ballots were cast out of 1,380,646 eligible voters, for turnout of 25.43 percent, according to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office. In Cibola County, 2,623 voters participated out of 16,003 eligible, a turnout rate of 16.39 percent with all 30 precincts reporting.
Hospital Levy, School Capital Tax Renewed
Countywide voters once again backed Cibola General Hospital’s property tax levy, continuing a local funding stream that has been in place since 2009.
The hospital mill levy passed with 79 percent in favor (1,927 “yes” to 523 “no”). If certified, this renewal will extend more than 16 consecutive years of voter support for the county hospital’s operation and maintenance.
Voters in the Grants Cibola County Schools district also overwhelmingly approved the continuation of the two-mill Public School Capital Improvements Tax. The question passed 72 percent to 28 percent (1,543 “yes” to 588 “no”), authorizing the district to continue a $2-per-$1,000 tax on net taxable property value for school buildings, equipment and related projects from tax years 2027 through 2032.
Support for both questions was broad, with “yes” votes outnumbering “no” in nearly every precinct.
Grants City Council
In Grants, voters in District 1 saw one of the tightest races on the local ballot.
According to the unofficial results:
• Dolores P. Vallejos received 133 votes (39 percent)
• Zachery T. Gutierrez received 130 votes (38 percent)
• Bob W. Tenequer received 81 votes (24 percent) A total of 344 ballots were cast in the three-way race.
The outcome in District 1 comes as the City of Grants prepares to review residency requirements under its charter. The City Council had called a special meeting for noon on Thursday, Nov. 13, to discuss whether Vallejos meets the charter’s residency rules and to consider a finding on her eligibility. That process is separate from the vote count itself and could affect how the race is ultimately resolved. MEETING WAS CANCELLED.
In District 3, Fred E. Rodarte ran unopposed and received 163 votes across three precincts.
Village of Milan: Mayor, Trustees and Judge
Milan voters returned familiar leadership and reshaped their council.
• Mayor: Incumbent Felix Orlando Gonzales was unopposed and received 186 votes, with all three Milan precincts reporting.
candidates sought council seats in the Milan at-large race. The vote totals were: o George E. Knotts – 89 votes (26 percent) o Virgil Brumbelow – 78 votes (23 percent) o James A. Mercer – 76 votes (22 percent) o Christopher Joseph Archuleta – 64 votes (19 percent) o Jared Clifford Brewer-Windhorst – 36 votes (10 percent) The race drew 343 total votes across the Milan precincts. Because of how close this election is, winners have not yet been declared and await certification from the Secretary of State’s Office.
• Municipal Judge: William H. Cunningham was unopposed and received 187 votes.
GCCS School Board Three districts of the Grants Cibola County Schools Board of Education were on the ballot:
• District 1: Monica S. Salazar won as a write-in candidate, receiving 31 votes according to the unofficial totals. No other candidate appeared on the ballot.
• District 2: Voters chose T. Walter Jaramillo over challenger Ronald Lee Calvert. Jaramillo received 360 votes (59 percent) to Calvert’s 249 votes (41 percent), for a total of 609 ballots cast.
• District 3: Courtney Charles Clawson ran unopposed and received 521 votes across six precincts.
Soil and Water, Water and Sanitation Boards Decided
Cibola County voters also helped decide leadership for multiple soil and water conservation districts and a rural water and sanitation board, depending on where they live.
• Quemado Soil & Water Conservation District In one of the closest races anywhere on the county’s ballot, Dustin Patrick Armstrong edged out Nancy Lee Stieg by a single vote: o Armstrong – 30 votes (51 percent) o Stieg – 29 votes (49 percent) A total of 59 ballots were cast in Precinct 001.
• Salado Soil & Water Conservation District
In a write-in-only contest, Christopher David Lilly received 2 votes and was the only candidate with support recorded in the results.
• Lava Soil & Water Conservation Board
Voters across 19 precincts chose Bernadette L. Hiles over Joseph C. DeSoto: o Hiles – 1,017 votes (53 percent) o DeSoto – 900 votes (47 percent) A total of 1,917 ballots were cast in this countywide contest.
• McKinley Soil & Water Conservation District
In precincts overlapping McKinley’s district, Richard Scott Lopez defeated Larry Winn: o Lopez – 102 votes (62 percent) o Winn – 62 votes (38 percent) for a total of 164 ballots.
• Bluewater Water & Sanitation Board
Bluewater-area voters selected a director for their water and sanitation board: o Steven N. McCoy – 51 votes (53 percent) o Micheal Troy Sands – 45 votes (47 percent) Ninety-six total ballots were cast in Precinct 004.
Why Some Ballots Looked Different
Throughout Election Day, several voters told the Citizen they were surprised – and sometimes frustrated – to find that they could not vote in every race they had seen on campaign signs, social media or around town.
That’s because New Mexico’s Regular Local Election combines many different jurisdictions on a single ballot, but not every race appears for every voter:
• City council races only appear for voters who live inside city limits and in the correct council district.
• School board races are elected by school board district, not county-wide.
• Soil and water conservation districts, as well as the Bluewater Water & Sanitation Board, have their own service-area boundaries.
• County-wide questions, like the hospital levy, appear on all Cibola ballots, while school questions only appear inside the school district.
As a result, a rural voter outside Grants and Milan might only have seen the hospital levy, school capital improvements tax and a soil and water race, while a city voter inside Grants District 1 saw a city council contest, school board race, and the two major tax questions.
Canvassing
The results reported Tuesday night are unofficial until they are canvassed and certified.
The Cibola County Board of Commissioners will convene Wednesday, November 12 at noon as a canvassing board to approve the ballots and send them to the New Mexico Secretary of State.
Because of how close the election for Milan Trustee is, the race will not be clear who won until after certification.
In the meantime, the numbers are clear on at least one point: even in a relatively low-turnout election year, Cibola County voters once again chose to invest in their hospital, their school buildings and the local boards that manage land,