Santa Fe — State Representative Rebecca Dow will be on the ballot after all. The months-long dispute was settled unanimously by the state Supreme Court who ordered her name placed on the ballot, overturning a decision by a district court judge who had ruled that screenshots of voter names who had signed Dow’s petitions did not meet the legal standard requiring more voter information.
Justices seemed skeptical from the beginning of the hearing as they peppered questions to attorneys on both sides. Daymon Ely, representing former State Rep. Tara Jaramillo, a Democrat who had challenged Dow’s certification, argued that the screenshots of electronic signatures did not provide all of the voter information required to verify a signer’s information. Carter Harrison, representing Dow, said the online signature system was maintained by the Secretary of State’s Office and Dow followed instructions by a county clerk in submitting those screenshots when she could not access the originals in the system.
Justice David Thomson opined that the lawsuit seemed like a “gotcha” by Democrats to disqualify a sitting Republican legislator from re-election since they did not challenge any actual signatures or names, only the format she used to submit them.
Party primaries are held on June 2, though military and overseas ballots will be mailed later this month.