By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper.
A state judge has ordered Sandoval County to redraw its commission district boundaries, ruling the county’s 2021 map failed to consult tribal nations and didn’t give Native American and Hispanic voters an equal say.
1st Judicial District Judge James Lawrence Sanchez ruled for the Democratic Party of Sandoval County, the Pueblo of San Felipe, the Pueblo of Jemez and several individual plaintiffs, in a case filed in Bernalillo County District Court in 2022. The court found the county’s Board of County Commissioners never adequately consulted tribal sovereign nations before adopting the map, and that district populations weren’t equal enough to comply with the New Mexico Constitution and state law. The county filed notice of appeal July 9.
The county said Thursday it will issue a full statement next week, citing commissioner and staff travel to the National Association of Counties’ annual conference in New Orleans, which runs through July 20.
In a press release, DPSC Chair Greg Bennett called the ruling a validation of the party’s yearslong fight over the map, saying it proves the county’s government “truly represents all of Sandoval County’s diverse communities.” No replacement map or redistricting timeline has been released yet, and the county has not said when commissioners might take up the redraw.
The case traces back to April 2022, when DPSC, the Pueblo of San Felipe, the Pueblo of Jemez and several individual plaintiffs sued the Board of County Commissioners over redistricting adopted that year. The case bounced between six judges before Sanchez was assigned in June 2022 after a string of recusals, then took more than three years to reach a decision through summary judgment briefing and hearings in 2025 and early 2026.