The 8th Court of Appeals ruled that Precinct 3 would-be challenger Tony Quintanilla is ineligible to run for for the seat and directs to "..remove Quintanilla's name from the ballot as a candidate for County Commissioner Precinct 3 in the March 1, 2016 Democratic primary election..."
The ruling follows a petition by County Commissioner Vince Perez for a Writ of Mandamus filed with the 8th Court of Appeals in December 2015 in which Perez challenged the eligibility of Tony Quintanilla to be placed on the ballot because he was not a registered voter in the precinct for which he was seeking office.
Quintanilla changed his voter registration from an address on Yandell in Precinct 2 to an address in the city of Socorro in Precinct 3 shortly before the filing deadline. However, his registration was not effective until January, several weeks after the filing deadline expired.
State law says you have to be a registered voter within the district for which you are seeking office.
Commissioner Perez sent a letter notifying the Chairman of the Party and the Executive Committee that he had a public record that indicated that Quintanilla was not eligible to seek the office of Precinct 3. The Party responded with a letter indicating that it was their belief that Quintanilla did meet the requirements of eligibility arguing essentially that he was a registered voter in El Paso County.
The Democratic Party sought clarification on the language of the statute with the Secretary of State's office and they were instructed by counsel for the Secretary of State that Quintanilla had to be a registered voter WITHIN the geographic boundaries of Precinct 3 before the filing deadline.
And the Party still ruled that Quintanilla was eligible.
There is much more to this story and I will post the parts you won't see on the news tonight shortly. Trust me, its insane.