Albuquerque mayor: Two candidates off the Nov. 4 ballot

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller will face off against six challengers in the Nov. 4 election, the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office confirmed Friday.

Two mayoral hopefuls, Patrick Sais and Alpana Adair, have been excluded from the list of qualified mayoral candidates, said Nathan Jaramillo, the county’s Bureau of Elections administrator.

Keller’s six challengers are:

• Daniel Chavez, president of Parking Company of America.
• Alex Uballez, the former U.S. attorney for the District of New Mexico.
• Louie Sanchez, a former Albuquerque police officer and current city councilor.
• Mayling Armijo, the former director of Economic Development for Bernalillo County and deputy county manager for Sandoval County.
• Darren White, the former sheriff of Bernalillo County and CEO of cannabis company PurLife.
• Eddie Varela, a retired Albuquerque firefighter and former California fire chief.

Sais filed a petition Sept. 10 in 2nd Judicial District Court contending that he had collected the 3,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot but that the clerk’s office credited him only with 2,880 valid signatures.

Sais said he collected 3,156 qualifying signatures. An attorney for the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office and New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office sought a dismissal on Wednesday, arguing that Sais failed to identify the signatures he believed were valid.

Judge Joshua Allison on Wednesday gave Sais until Friday to file an amended petition and ordered a dismissal on Friday, saying Sais had failed to meet the required deadline.

Sais said he was injured on Tuesday when he was making repairs under his truck and it rolled on his head, nearly breaking his back. He remained as an inpatient at University of New Mexico Hospital until he was discharged Friday, he said. Judge Allison acknowledged in his order that Sais was hospitalized “with grave injuries” following an accident.