Opinion ID: 2514024
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts and standard of review

Text: {2} This is an election contest involving the November 5, 1996 general elections in State Senate District No. 38 and Dona Ana County Commissioner District No. 5. In the Senate District, the Democratic candidate was Contestee Fernando R. Macias and the Republican candidate was Contestant Narendra N. Gunaji. For County Commissioner, the Democratic candidate was Contestee Gilbert T. Apodaca and the Republican candidate was Contestant Maria S. Sutton. On election day, an incorrect ballot face was discovered on machine number 4719 at Precinct 31 in Dona Ana County. The ballot face contained two errors. First, it showed the State Senate race as between Mary Jane Garcia as the Democrat and Thomas Bulger as the Republican. Second, instead of listing the candidates for County Commissioner in District No. 5, it incorrectly listed the race for Dona Ana County Clerk (Rita Torres, unopposed). {3} Sixty-six voters cast their votes using the wrong ballot face on machine number 4719. If any of the sixty-six voters who used the incorrect ballot face voted for the Democratic candidate for State Senate listed on the ballot face, Mary Jane Garcia, the votes were credited to Macias even though his name was not on the ballot face. The same held true for Gunaji if any votes among those initial sixty-six voted for the Republican candidate for State Senate listed on the ballot face. A similar situation was occurring in the race for County Commissioner. The error was discovered on election day, but the response of the election officials only compounded the problem. Although they replaced the flawed ballot face with a correct ballot face, machine 4719 remained in use, and 112 more people cast votes after the flawed ballots were replaced. The votes of the sixty-six persons using the wrong ballot face were commingled with the votes of the persons using the correct ballot face. {4} The official results for the race for Senate District No. 38 were 5,297 votes for Contestee Macias and 5,286 votes for Contestant Gunaji, a difference of eleven votes. The official results for the race of County Commissioner District No. 5 were 4,507 votes for Contestee Apodaca and 4,409 votes for Contestant Sutton, a difference of ninety-eight votes. Therefore, it appears for both races that a swing vote of sixty-six (or fewer) votes away from the winner and in favor of the loser could have turned the election around. That is, it is possible that all sixty-six voters voted for the winner but would have voted for the opposite candidate had the ballot face been correct throughout the election. {5} The final official vote total from Precinct 31 for the Senate race was 205 for Gunaji and 159 for Macias. The final official vote total from Precinct 31 for County Commissioner was 185 for Apodaca and 160 votes for Sutton. Thus, if the votes in Precinct 31 were omitted as a whole from the overall totals, the results would be unchanged. {6} There was also an issue concerning absentee ballots. Four absentee precincts included voters in Senate District No. 38 and County Commissioner District No. 5. There were twenty-four more votes than there were voters in the absentee precincts that affected this race, as well as thirty incorrect ballots. Because the parties have abandoned any issues of absentee ballots in their briefs, we do not discuss them. {7} Count I of Contestants' complaint was an election contest. Count II sought a declaratory judgment as to whether the elections were valid in view of the irregularities. Count III alleged a civil rights violation against the County Clerk, who removed the matter to federal court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441 (1991). The United States District Court dismissed Count III and remanded the action to state court. The trial court granted summary judgment on Count I. Contestees' motion to dismiss was granted on Count II, the court holding, Contestants are not entitled to the equitable relief sought in the context of an election contest as a matter of law. RP 532. {8} The standard of review is de novo. We said in Hasse Contracting Co., Inc. v. KBK Financial, Inc., 1999-NMSC-023, ¶ 9, 127 N.M. 316, 980 P.2d 641: Summary judgment is appropriate when ... the parties do not dispute the facts, but only the legal effect of those facts ... In such cases, the district court determines as a matter of law which movant is entitled to summary judgment ... Appellate courts review matters of law de novo.  The same reasoning applies to review of the grant of a motion to dismiss where all that is before the court are pleadings and affidavits. CABA Ltd. Liability Co. v. Mustang Software, Inc., 1999-NMCA-089, ¶ 9, 127 N.M. 556, 984 P.2d 803.