Santa Fe County tabulates ranked-choice rounds; Barrett, Fagali and Garcia declared winners

Santa Fe County election staff, assisted by a representative from Liberty Vote, conducted ranked-choice tabulations for two district races and the mayoral contest and announced three winners during a results-processing session.

An elections staff member said, "I wanna get this done," as the office prepared to "start running these rounds so that everyone can follow along," and introduced "our lovely assistant from Liberty Vote" who helped operate the tabulation software.

Officials ran the tabulation one round at a time, explaining on-screen indicators including eliminated candidates, ballot transfers, overvotes and blanks. For one district race, staff said "Liz Barrett won, with 2 rounds." For City Council District 1, staff noted "9 over votes, 463 blanks" during the initial count and referenced Pat Fagali in announcing the outcome. In the mayoral tabulation staff said multiple candidates were eliminated across rounds and that "Michael Garcia won."

Staff described the process as sequential: the tabulation software eliminated lowest-ranked candidates, then transferred ballots according to voter rankings until a candidate reached the necessary threshold in each contest. The Liberty Vote assistant and staff exchanged technical instructions while initiating tabulation and confirming what the display showed.

After announcing the three winners, election staff said they would upload the tabulated results. The session concluded with staff thanking participants and closing the tabulation run.

The meeting transcript records only the tabulation steps and on-screen counts described by staff and the Liberty Vote assistant; it does not include candidate remarks, certification language or an official canvass statement in this session.