{"id":39750,"date":"2022-06-29T01:40:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T07:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-commissioner-candelaria-appears-headed-to-reelection-in-close-race\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:51:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:51:36","slug":"montezuma-commissioner-candelaria-appears-headed-to-reelection-in-close-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-commissioner-candelaria-appears-headed-to-reelection-in-close-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma Commissioner Candelaria appears headed to reelection in close race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma
Montezuma County Clerk Kim Percell explains the election process, as Election Deputy Danielle Wells and Election Judge Miranda Warren process signature verification letters during Tuesday's primary election. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Incumbent Montezuma County Commissioner Jim Candelaria appears headed to reelection in the Republican primary Tuesday for the the District 1 seat, according to unofficial results.<\/p>\n

Candelaria had 37.94% of the votes (2,038) compared with challenger Tim Lanier, who had 36.80% (1,977). Candidate Liz Tozer had 25.26%, or 1,357 votes.<\/p>\n

The winner of the primary will be uncontested on the November ballot. The position is for a four-year term.<\/p>\n

The results of the close race could change if ballots that were rejected because of signature issues can be verified.<\/p>\n

About 200 ballots were rejected because they lacked a signature or had a signature discrepancy, said County Clerk Kim Percell. Those voters will be notified they have eight days to correct the signature problem for the ballots to count.<\/p>\n

Candelaria gained a small lead in early preliminary results, and was able to hang on.<\/p>\n

\"Candelaria\"
Candelaria<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Of the 18,866 ballots, 7,364 were returned, a 39% voter turnout.<\/p>\n

Percell said about 200 ballots were rejected because of a signature problem. Those voters have eight days to rectify the signature for the vote to count. Letters will inform them of the process.<\/p>\n

In such a close race, it is plausible that rectified ballots could change the outcome of the District 1 commissioner race.<\/p>\n

Percell added that if an election is won by 1% or less, an automatic recount is required by the Colorado Secretary of State. If it is more than 1%, the candidate can request a recount, but has to pay for it.<\/p>\n

Candelaria has served as county commissioner since 2018. He previously worked in construction and as a firefighter in Cortez and Farmington, where he made the rank of battalion chief.<\/p>\n

During his campaign he pointed to his experience as a commissioner, including navigating the pandemic, implementing the land use code, broadcasting public meetings and informing the public via video presentations.<\/p>\n

On the economy, he pointed to the approval of two U.S. Department of Agriculture meatpacking plants in the county, the cleanup of the M&M truck stop for a new business, and support of outdoor recreation.<\/p>\n

He helped improve parking at Sand Canyon and open public access to the Summit Ridge BLM land. He supports greenhouse development to extend the agriculture season.<\/p>\n

On the issue of mental health and drug abuse, he supports the county\u2019s new Community Intervention Program, which pairs EMTs and social workers to respond to noncriminal emergencies.<\/p>\n

Dolores County results<\/div>\n

In the Dolores County primary, the only contested race was for county treasurer between Republicans Taylor Funk and Lenore Dianne Johnson.<\/p>\n

According to unofficial final results, Funk won with had 531 votes (76%) compared with Johnson\u2019s 164 votes (24%).<\/p>\n

Republican Mike Steele went unopposed in the primary for Dolores County Sheriff. Current Sheriff Don Wilson announced he is running for a second term as an unaffiliated candidate, which requires petitioning on to the November general election ballot.<\/p>\n

Dolores County Commissioner Julie Kibel of District 1, County Assessor Christy Cressler, County Clerk and Recorder Lana Hancock, and County Coroner Aaron Hankins ran unopposed in the primary.<\/p>\n

In Dolores County, 1,671 ballots were mailed, and 800 ballots were cast, a turnout of 48%.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Incumbent leads challenger Tim Lanier by 61 votes, or just over 1%; rejected ballots could change results <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[266,28,109,29,445,265],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-39750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-election","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county-commissioner","tag-newsletter","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-politics"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84436,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39750\/revisions\/84436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39750"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=39750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}