An Eddy County voting precinct selected for audit by the State of New Mexico after the Nov. 7 local elections passed, said Eddy County Clerk Cara Cooke.

Senate Bill (SB) 180 passed earlier this year by the New Mexico Legislature said audits must be conducted after each statewide election, according to Cooke.

“It used to be just after every general election,” said Alex Curtas, spokesperson for New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver.

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Curtas said SB 180 requires all counties to participate in a post-election audit.

“(A) random sample shall be chosen in a process that will ensure, with at least 90% probability for the selected offices, that faulty tabulators would be detected if they would change the outcome of the election for a selected office,” read part of SB 180.

According to the legislation, the auditor shall select precincts starting with the statewide office with the largest winning margin and ending with the precincts for the statewide office with the smallest winning margin and then, in the same manner, select precincts from each congressional district.

Cooke said Precinct 50 in the Otis area was selected for the audit by the state.

“The reason for these audits are to compare, by hand tally, the tabulator results. The audit results were exactly as the tabulator results,” she said.

Cooke said the Dominion tabulators used by Eddy County only count the selected votes on each ballot.

“Those tabulators do not change votes or mark ballots that the constituents put in the machines. That is the beauty of voting on paper ballots, we can recreate the election,” she said.

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Dominion Voting Systems came under fire after the 2020 presidential election as incumbent president Donald Trump lost to Democratic challenger Joe Biden, according to a 2021 story from USA Today.

Curtas said post-election audits are an important way to ensure accuracy and bolster public confidence in elections results.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Eddy County voting precinct passes audit conducted by state