By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper.
Thirteenth Judicial District Court Judge James A. Noel ruled Wednesday that Sandoval County Clerk Anne Brady-Romero is not required to place Matthew Wayne Herman’s name on the November ballot for House District 23, denying the Democratic Central Committee’s bid to keep a nominee in the race after original candidate Elise Falanga Taylor withdrew last month.
The fight centers on matching withdrawals by two Democratic nominees — Elise Falanga Taylor in House District 23 and Joseph Hernandez in House District 4 — both of whom stepped aside within the final 78 days before the Nov. 3 general election. Sandoval County Clerk Anne Brady-Romero and San Juan County Clerk Alyssa Kuhn each initially told their local Democratic parties they could name replacements, then reversed course, arguing state law only allows a vacancy to be filled if it arises 90 or more days before the election. Both county Democratic committees appointed replacements anyway — Herman in Sandoval County, Anthony Allison in San Juan County — and filed the paperwork before the state’s separate 70-day filing deadline. Both clerks refused to certify the replacement candidates, prompting mandamus lawsuits in district court.
In his final order denying a peremptory writ of mandamus, Noel rejected the Democratic Central Committee’s argument that the state’s 70-day candidate-filing deadline operates independently of a separate 90-day rule governing when a nomination vacancy can be filled in the first place. Reading the statute “as a whole,” Noel found that the 70-day filing deadline in Section 1-8-8(D) applies only to appointments already authorized under Section 1-8-8(A) — and Section 1-8-8(A) only authorizes filling a vacancy that arises 90 or more days before the general election. Since original nominee Elise Falanga Taylor withdrew 78 days before the Nov. 3 election, Noel found the vacancy never qualified to be filled at all, regardless of how promptly the party moved to name a replacement.
Before the hearing on Wednesday, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver’s office asked the Supreme Court to intervene directly, arguing the two nearly identical cases raise a single, time-sensitive legal question that shouldn’t be decided differently by two different district judges before the state’s Sept. 4 ballot-certification deadline. Notably, the Secretary’s petition sides with the clerks’ interpretation — that a vacancy occurring fewer than 90 days before the election can’t be filled, regardless of when replacement paperwork was filed — while asking the Court to resolve the question “so that ballot preparation and finalization may commence.”
Speaking after the ruling, Kate Ferlic, an attorney for petitioners Gregory Bennett, the chair of the Democratic Party of Sandoval County, and Herman, said the case sits alongside a nearly identical dispute in San Juan County, and that district court was the correct venue for both because they involve county-specific legislative seats rather than a statewide vacancy. Ferlic said only the Secretary of State — as a state official facing a timing crunch before ballot certification — was positioned to go directly to the Supreme Court, which she did Monday. Ferlic said she filed her own response with the Supreme Court Wednesday morning though Supreme Court review is not guaranteed — the Court could decline to hear the matter, could order county clerks to hold ballots past Sept. 4 while it deliberates, or could rule before the deadline either preserving the current outcome (Herman off the ballot) or reversing Judge Noel’s decision.
Taylor withdrew from the HD23 race Aug. 17, 78 days before the election, citing what she called “vile tactics” from incumbent Republican Rep. Alan Martinez’s campaign — an accusation Martinez has denied. Hernandez withdrew from the HD4 race Aug. 25, exactly 70 days before the election.