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Hopefuls After Ballot Spots ; 2 Men Disqualified From Council Run

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

Two men running for the City Council still hope to make it on the ballot, despite falling short of the required number of petition signatures.

Retired bus driver John Carreathers and Juan Jose Pea, chairman of the Hispano Round Table of New Mexico, are hoping to run in District 3, which covers Downtown Albuquerque, Barelas and the university area. The seat is open because incumbent Eric Griego is running for mayor.

Under a formula outlined in the City Charter, candidates for the District 3 seat must gather 592 signatures from qualified voters to get their names on the ballot.

Carreathers is 20 signatures short. He is trying to gather affidavits from voters whose signatures weren't accepted by the City Clerk's Office, even though they signed his petition.

Many signatures are rejected because the voter puts down an address on the petition that doesn't match the voter registration card or because of another error. Voters can be reinstated if they swear they are qualified to vote.

Pea, meanwhile, is going to court today to get on the ballot. He was at least 300 signatures short of the requirement, according to the clerk's office.

Pea is following the strategy of mayoral candidate Judy Espinosa, who had thousands of signatures reinstated after she went to court. Espinosa challenged the city clerk's disqualification of signatures.

Carreathers said he faced angry dogs and other perils as he went door-to-door to gather signatures.

"We've got a bad system going on here," Carreathers said. "It should have been changed a long time ago."

Also running are Diana Dorn-Jones and Isaac Benton, each of whom already has enough names to get on the ballot.

Benton is an architect. Dorn-Jones is a former executive in the administration of Mayor Martin Chvez.

The election is Oct. 4.

Source: Albuquerque Journal

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