OPINION: Candidates remain on ballot, but show little respect for the law

Earlier this month, my law firm represented several West Side community leaders in a lawsuit to remove the names of Stephanie Telles and Teresa Garcia from the November 2025 Albuquerque municipal election ballot.

Telles is running for City Council in District 1, and Garcia is running in council District 3.

Both Telles and Garcia collected nominating petition signatures for placement on the ballot after the deadline imposed by the city’s election ordinance but before a deadline set by the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office.

Our clients argued that the signatures both candidates collected, in clear violation of city law, are invalid and should not count toward placing either of their names on the ballot. Unlike Telles and Garcia, all other candidates for city office this cycle seemed to understand the city election ordinance as written and complied with it.

The 2nd Judicial District Court has for now said that sections of the city’s election ordinance that impose deadlines for the collection of nominating petitions conflict with state law and cannot be enforced. As such, Telles and Garcia will remain on the ballot.

Our law firm has appealed this decision to the New Mexico Supreme Court. Both of these candidates’ names will nonetheless appear on the ballot regardless of what the Supreme Court decides regarding the enforceability of the city’s deadlines for collecting nominating petition signatures. That is because the deadline for election officials to send ballots to the printer passed four days after the district court handed down its rulings.

What should still concern voters on Albuquerque’s West Side and Southwest Mesa, however, is just how little respect both of these candidates and their allies in the nonprofit industrial complex showed for the rule of law in order to pursue their personal political ambition.

Before the District Court’s ruling earlier this month, every candidate had an obligation to strictly comply with all provisions of Albuquerque’s election ordinance. In a democratic society that is defined by the rule of law, we don’t get to pick and choose which laws we want to follow — we follow the law unless and until a court or the Legislature tells us otherwise.

If Telles or Garcia truly believed that the city’s deadlines for collecting nominating petition signatures conflict with state law and cannot be enforced, then they should have filed a lawsuit asking the courts to make that ruling before the expiration of those deadlines.

As it stands, both of these candidates instead took it upon themselves to decide which election laws they need to follow and which they do not.

This behavior shows a troubling lack of respect for the rule of law, and Albuquerque‘s voters would do well to consider the conduct of both of these candidates when casting their ballots.

Ultimately, those seeking to make the law should demonstrate respect for the law.

Both of these candidates have claimed to be champions of democracy and the rule of law. They should perhaps consider practicing what they preach.