Challenger Deloris Gertrude McCoy defeated one-term incumbent Richard Velarde Monday for the Jemez Electric Cooperative’s District 2 (Cuba/Regina) Board of Trustees election.
“Gertrude won,” Rio Arriba County Elections Manager Maria Elena Rodela declared Monday night.
McCoy received 216 votes, or 58 percent of the vote, to Velarde’s 157 votes, Rodela reported.
Over a third of the approximately 1,000 eligible District 2 members cast a vote in the race, Rodela said.
“It was steady all day long,” Rodela said. “It was really busy compared to Jemez Springs.”
McCoy and Velarde could not be reached for comment.
McCoy, a retired Co-op business manager and former Cuba city councilor, ran on a reform ticket, saying she would make sure the Co-op is run “by the book.”
In the run-up to Monday’s election, the candidates exchanged charges of nepotism. McCoy pointed out that Velarde’s son, Cuba Mayor Rick Velarde, is a veteran Co-op lineman. In addition, the Co-op’s Cuba District Manager Elmer Morales is Velarde’s brother-in-law.
But Velarde said both his son and Morales were Co-op employees long before he was elected to the Board in 2005. McCoy’s nephew, Co-op lineman Ubaldo “Kelly” Maestas, on the other hand, was hired while McCoy was the Co-op’s Cuba office manager, Velarde said.
McCoy denied having anything to do with her nephew’s hiring.
“I was against it, and I have told my family I don’t want anybody applying for work at the Co-op if I’m elected,” McCoy said June 15.
Unopposed Co-op District 1 (Jemez Springs) incumbent Ralph Garcia was re-elected with just 21 votes, Rodela said.
Also unopposed was incumbent District 3 Trustee and Co-op Board President Johnny Jaramillo, whose election is Wednesday (6/24) at the Joe Ferran Community Center in Abiquiú.