The New Mexico Forward Party has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to place two of its statewide nominees on the November ballot after a federal appeals court denied the party’s latest emergency request.
The party filed its application on September 15, asking the court to require Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver to place U.S. Senate candidate Bob Perls and state auditor candidate Michael Vigil on the general election ballot. The filing came the same day the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit denied a similar request.
Perls and Vigil each needed roughly 14,200 signatures to qualify after the Forward Party achieved minor party status in New Mexico. That was significantly more than the several thousand signatures Democratic and Republican statewide candidates needed if they used petitions to qualify for their respective primaries. Neither Forward Party candidate submitted enough.
The New Mexico Forward Party and several of its members then sued Toulouse Oliver in July over those requirements. U.S. District Judge Margaret Strickland denied the party’s request to temporarily block their enforcement earlier this month, prompting an appeal to the Tenth Circuit.
In its two-page order, the Tenth Circuit concluded that the Forward Party had not shown enough to justify emergency relief. The court said it considered whether the party was likely to succeed on appeal, whether it would suffer “irreparable harm” without relief, whether granting relief would harm the state, and whether doing so would serve the public interest. It did not explain which of those factors the party failed to satisfy.
The court also refused to consider an amicus brief filed by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez in support of the Forward Party. It said federal appellate rules allow those briefs when considering the appeal itself or a request to rehear it, but not for this type of emergency request. The court instead ordered Torrez’s filing struck.
Torrez’s support initially surprised the New Mexico Forward Party, with Perls, who also serves as its chair, telling Source New Mexico last week that he did not know beforehand that the attorney general planned to intervene. In his brief, Torrez argued that New Mexico’s ballot access laws do not put major and minor party candidates on a level playing field and backed the Forward Party’s argument that the requirements are unconstitutional.
National Forward Party leadership also praised Torrez for his support one day before the appeals court ruling. In a statement to supporters, Forward Party CEO Lindsey Drath called the signature requirements unfair and unconstitutional and argued that minor party candidates face substantially higher barriers than their Democratic and Republican counterparts.
The state party is asking the Supreme Court to act by September 17, with a decision coming no later than September 18, with concerns about New Mexico’s September 19 deadline to send ballots to military and overseas voters.
If more time is needed, the party is asking the Supreme Court to temporarily require the state to include Perls and Vigil on any ballots printed or sent before a decision is made. It is also asking the Supreme Court to take up its underlying challenge to New Mexico’s ballot access laws before the Tenth Circuit rules on the appeal itself.
With thanks to Ballot Access News for making a copy of the New Mexico Forward Party’s Supreme Court filing publicly available.
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