BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com

Democratic candidate for Los Alamos County Council Marshall Maez failed to provide sufficient approved signatures to the County Clerk’s Office to allow him to be on the ballot for the June 2026 Primary Election.

The Reporter reached out to the Clerk’s Office after noticing that Maez’s name was not included in the list released Tuesday morning. See https://losalamosreporter.com/2026/03/17/clerks-office-announces-candidates-qualified-for-june-2-primary-election/

County Clerk Michael Redondo said Tuesday morning that Maez chose to submit a list of petitioners to the Clerk’s Office on filing day, March 10, instead of paying $50 as is provided by law. However Maez needed 20 verified signatures as outlined in the Secretary of State’s election guide, and when several of the signatures were disqualified for a variety of reasons, Maez was left with fewer than 20.

One of the “tips for success” given to candidates in the election guide is to collect extra signatures.

“It is a standard “best practice” to collect 20-30 percent more signatures than required. Signatures are frequently disqualified if a voter is not registered in the correct district or if their address doesn’t match their registration exactly,” the guide says. Another reason a signature would be disqualified is if the person was not registered as the same political party as the candidate.

The Reporter attempted to contact Maez and his campaign representative Tuesday but received no response.