Judge Invalidates Dow's Petitions, Removing Her From District 38 Primary

Screenshots cost Rep. Rebecca Dow her place on the ballot. State District Judge Manuel Arrieta, ruling from Doña Ana County's 3rd Judicial District, found Wednesday that Dow had submitted digital screenshots of her nominating petitions instead of the physical forms required under state law, and those screenshots omitted the address of every voter who signed them. The ruling removed the Republican incumbent from the June 2 primary ballot for House District 38, covering parts of Sierra, Doña Ana, and Socorro counties, and left New Mexico Republicans without a candidate in the race.

The statute is unambiguous. Under New Mexico election law, specifically NMSA Section 1-1-7.2, any signature on a nominating petition that lacks the signer's address, county, and precinct number is invalid. A companion provision, Section 1-8-30, makes those requirements mandatory rather than discretionary. Judge Arrieta found that Dow's screenshots failed to include information that would "enable or allow a voter to review and challenge the nominating petitions," the standard the election code requires. Her declaration of candidacy carried a second defect: it listed her office as "House of Repres" rather than the full "House of Representatives, District 38."

The challenge was brought by Tara Jaramillo, the Democrat Dow ousted in one of New Mexico's most expensive 2024 legislative races. Jaramillo, who originally won the District 38 seat in 2022 while Dow was running for governor, said the truncated office description first caught her attention, but a closer look revealed the larger problem. "When I looked deeper into it, I noticed she submitted screenshots rather than the petitions themselves," Jaramillo said. "Since I had filed similar petitions, I knew that that was improper." Attorney Daymon Ely, a former state representative who argued the case, filed the complaint against the Sierra County Clerk, who had initially qualified Dow's candidacy before the court reversed that decision.

Dow, who first won the District 38 seat in 2016 and represents Truth or Consequences, called the outcome "a dispute over paperwork" and announced she would appeal. "I am appealing this unprecedented ruling to the New Mexico Supreme Court," she said, adding: "I have always believed that elections should be decided by the people, not by technicalities." State election rules allow five days from a district court decision to file a Supreme Court appeal, giving Dow a deadline of roughly Monday, April 13, to act. Without reinstatement, District 38 would proceed to a general election with no Republican on the ballot; the only other candidate is Democrat David Mooney of Radium Springs, who filed as a write-in candidate on March 17.

The disqualification extends a damaging pattern for New Mexico Republicans in 2026. The cycle has produced a string of Republican candidate filing failures, including multiple disqualifications earlier this year for insufficient signatures in races for U.S. Senate, governor, and congressional seats, forcing last-minute write-in efforts in certain contests. Dow was the sole Republican to file for District 38 by the March 10 deadline.

The requirements at issue, physical petition forms bearing the Secretary of State's official language, full signatory addresses with county and precinct numbers, and a precisely stated office designation, are not unique to District 38. They govern every nominating petition filed across New Mexico's 70 House districts. Courts have now shown they will enforce each provision literally: any candidate filing in the state, including those seeking to represent communities in northern New Mexico's competitive legislative districts, faces the same disqualification risk if paperwork departs from the statutory form, regardless of whether the underlying voter support was ever in question.