Judge Carl Butkus of the 2nd Judicial District Court ruled this afternoon (04/09/12) in the case (D-202-CV-2012-03200) of a nominating petition challenge involving incumbent state representative Thomas A. Anderson (R) and his Republican challenger, Peggy Muller-Aragon in the westside area called District 29.
Judge Butkus said challenger Muller-Aragon will be allowed to stay on the ballot although she agreed she didn’t have the needed 110 voter signatures as required by the New Mexico Secretary of State, the Bernalillo County Clerk and as stated in the Candidate Guides.
Both sides agreed by stipulation that 30 of the 130 signatures were thrown out, 19 being duplicates appearing on both candidates petitions and another 11 for being the wrong party affiliation. However, the challenger was able to convince the judge that she was not under the same requirements as all the other candidates and those stated by the Secretary of State and the Bernalillo County Clerk.
The challenger appealed to the statute NMSA 1-8-30 which states that three (3) percent of the voters who voted for the Governor in the primary election are used to determine how many signatures were needed to get on the ballot but she decided to to use the “new” district boundaries not the 2010 boundaries as was stated in the the candidate guide and nominating petition forms which were first published in October of 2011.
Interestingly enough the challenger, Muller-Aragon said she used a voter canvass received from the Bernalillo County Clerk’s office back in October 2011. However, the date of certification showed April 5th 2012 which was 5 days after the incumbent filed his complaint in court. Representative Anderson said he will appeal and he has five days in which to do so.
