Even as a new primary and general election season gets underway, a lawsuit stemming from disgruntlement over voting conditions in 2012 was until recently calling for voters to have another chance to decide those contests. Pat Rogers, the attorney representing Republicans who lost to Democrats in Sandoval County, now intends to drop his clients’ request for new elections to decide the outcome of the State Senate District 9 and Sandoval County Clerk’s races in the 2012 general election. However, he said he intends to proceed with other aspects of the case to ensure that the type of voting debacle that occurred in Rio Rancho in November 2012 can’t happen again.
Rogers originally sued in District Court immediately after the general election on behalf of candidates David Doyle and Paula Papponi, and Rio Rancho voter Teresa Fleming, asking for the election results to be overturned. The lawsuit claimed a new voting center arrangement organized by former county clerk Sally Padilla and Bureau of Elections Director Eddie Gutierrez led to long lines and voter frustration in Republican-leaning Rio Rancho.
It maintained the situation deprived Rio Rancho voters of their right to vote, leading to Doyle’s election loss to Democrat John Sapien in Senate District 9 and Papponi’s loss to Eileen Garbagni in the county clerk race.
Full Article: 2012 elections still contentious | ABQJournal Online.