State Rep. Joe Campos, D-Santa Rosa, who everyone thought had fallen just a bit short of the magic 20 percent mark need to get on the ballot for lieutenant governor, will be on the ballot after all.
Here's the news release I just received:
Albuquerque, NM- The Democratic Party of New Mexico today announced that after thorough review of the rules of the party and the State of New Mexico Election Handbook, Representative Campos received 20% of the votes cast in the Lt. Governor convention vote. The ruling of the Chair was further supported by a unanimous vote of the DPNM Judicial Committee, 10-0, in favor of recommending the ruling of the Chairman. Representatives from the Rael, Colon and Ortiz y Pino campaigns all stated after the decision that they respected the ruling and would seek no further challenge.
Please see the Major Fractions Rule:
1-1-20. Major fractions
In any place in the Election Code [1-1-1 NMSA 1978] requiring counting or computation of numbers, any fraction or decimal greater than one-half of a whole number shall be counted as a whole number. [p. 10, Election Handbook of the State of New Mexico]
Joe Campos received 19.69%, which in accordance to the rule is rounded to 20%.
"This is exactly why the Democratic Party of New Mexico waits three days before certifying, so everyone can thoroughly review the rules and make the right call," said former Chairman and DPNM pro-bono legal counsel John Wertheim. “In this case, the law is clear, and we’re pleased that the other candidates voiced their support and respect for Chairman Gonzales’ ruling.”
"I am very pleased with success and record participation at the pre-primary convention. We are the party of inclusion and look forward to supporting all of our Democratic candidates," said Democratic Party Chairman Javier Gonzales.
DPNM action on the convention is complete. The vote will be certified and the three names submitted to the Secretary of State for inclusion on the primary ballot are as follows: Brian Colon, Lawrence Rael and Jose Campos.
The below, final vote tally will be certified today.
Lt. Governor
Ortiz y Pino: 323 votes 18.87%
Jose Campos: 337 votes 19.69%
Brian Colon: 591 votes 34.54%
Linda Lopez: 81 votes 4.73%
Lawrence Rael: 379 votes 22.15%
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