Attorney General Gary King (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
‘…past legal rulings suggest that a New Mexico court would not reject the candidates because of a technical problem in the nominating petitions,’ the Attorney General’s Office says.
Twelve candidates who filed to run in the June 5 primary, including seven legislative incumbents, should survive any challenge based on their failing to list district numbers on nominating petitions, Attorney General Gary King’s office says.
That’s according to The Associated Press, which reported this evening that King’s office issued a memo stating, “past legal rulings suggest that a New Mexico court would not reject the candidates because of a technical problem in the nominating petitions submitted by the candidates when they filed for office earlier this week.”
As NMPolitics.net reported earlier today, a new provision the Legislature and governor added to the law last year requires candidates to list the district or division number of the office they’re seeking on nominating petitions. Failure to list the number makes a nominating petition and all signatures on it invalid, the law says.
But King’s office, in an opinion authored by Assistant Attorney General Tania Maestas, apparently told Duran not to worry about it.
“In the absence of any evidence of fraud or bad faith, it is unlikely that a court would require strict adherence to the statutory requirements at the cost of denying a significant number of voters their constitutional right to participate in the election process,” Maestas wrote, according to the AP.
The opinion isn’t legally binding and doesn’t formally put the matter to rest. Duran could still opt to disqualify candidates, or any qualified voters living in their districts could challenge their petitions in court.
The 12 candidates who failed to include the district or division number of the office they’re seeking on petitions include:
- Sen. Pete Campos, D-Las Vegas, whose candidacy is already being challenged by primary opponent Thomas Garcia of Ocate.
- Rep. Rick Little, R-Chaparral.
- Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Sandia Park.
- Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell.
- Rep. Dianne Hamilton, R-Silver City.
- Rep. James Roger Madalena, D-Jemez Pueblo.
- Rep. Rodolpho Martinez, D-Bayard.
- Democrat Guadalupe Cano, who is running for the seat Hamilton now holds.
- Democrat Joshua Madalena of Jemez Pueblo, who is running against Sen. Lynda Lovejoy, D-Crownpoint.
- Democrat Louis Luna of Deming, who is running against Rep. Dona Irwin, D-Deming.
- Public Education Commissioner Vince Bergman, a Republican.
- Democrat Karen Montoya, who is running for the District 1 seat on the Public Regulation Commission.