New Mexico Supreme Court dismisses candidate filing lawsuits

New Mexico Supreme Court

Farmington Daily Times - The state Supreme Court today rejected lawsuits to disqualify candidates for what one justice called “hyper-technical” mistakes on campaign documents. The 4-0 decision means that most candidates who were challenged by their opponents will be on the June primary election ballot. State Rep. James Roger Madalena, D-Jemez Pueblo, was bounced from the ballot Monday by a district judge in Farmington, then reinstated today by the Supreme Court. “Only in New Mexico,” Madalena said afterward. Most of the technical challenges were based on candidates omitting the number of their district or judicial division from campaign filings. Supreme Court Justice Charles Daniels said the 2011 law requiring the information was confusing and ambiguous. The best evidence of this, he said, was the jammed courtroom, which included Madalena and a half-dozen other sitting legislators who were challenged for not listing the number of their district. Along with Madalena, those surviving the challenges to their candidacies were Reps. Rick Little and Rudy Martinez and Sens. Pete Campos and Tim Jennings. Rep. Dianne Hamilton, R-Silver City, won her case in district court and part of it in the Supreme Court. But one of Hamilton’s opponents has raised more challenges to her petitions, going beyond the listing of her district number. Read More News New Mexico

New Mexico Supreme Court dismisses candidate filing lawsuits