On December 11, U.S. District Court Judge Judith Herrera, a Bush, Jr., appointee, ruled that New Mexico ballot access laws are unconstitutional to the extent that they make it impossible for someone who is not registered to vote to get on the ballot for Congress. Here is the 13-page decision. The case is Woodruff v Herrera, cv-09-449. In 2000, the 10th Circuit had ruled in a Colorado case (Campbell v Davidson), that states cannot require candidates for Congress to be registered voters. New Mexico is in the 10th circuit, so that decision was binding in the new case.

The judge also ruled that because the election code is internally contradictory on the question of which address a voter should show on a ballot access petition, that part of the election code is unconstitutionally vague. The Election Code says in one place that a voter should write the address at which he or she is registered, but in another place it says a voter should write the address of actual residence. The two can differ, for voters who have moved since last registering to vote.

Further proceedings in the case will determine whether it is unconstitutional for the state to place a straight-ticket device on the general election ballot for the two major parties, but not for any of the ballot-qualified minor parties. New Mexico formerly gave all parties a straight-ticket device, but in 2004 stopped putting one on the ballot for the minor parties.