Doña Ana County says no request was made to place Sunland Park bond questions on ballot

The Doña Ana County Clerk’s Office says it found no communication from the City of Sunland Park requesting its three General Obligation Bond questions be placed on the November 3, 2026, general election ballot before the Aug. 25 deadline.

In a statement released Friday, Oct. 30, the County Clerk’s Office said the city submitted a resolution and two ordinances on Aug. 21. However, the documents were processed through the Recording & Filing Department as standard recordings.

The county said placing questions on the ballot requires coordination with the Bureau of Elections, which is responsible for preparing and certifying ballot content. Simply recording a document with the Recording & Filing Department does not initiate that process.

The Bureau of Elections said a comprehensive search of its records found no emails, calls, correspondence or other communication from the City of Sunland Park, including its City Clerk’s Office, following the recording or before the Aug. 25 deadline for local governments to submit ballot questions.

According to the county, the Bureau of Elections first learned the bond questions were missing from the ballot when the city contacted the office on Oct. 30.

The county said ballots were certified by the Sept. 4 deadline, and sample ballots have been available online through the New Mexico Secretary of State’s website since Sept. 20. The Notice of Election was also published Oct. 13.

In a separate statement, the City of Sunland Park said its City Council approved the three bond questions through Resolution 2026-85 on Aug. 18. City staff filed the resolution with the Doña Ana County Clerk’s Office on Aug. 21.

The city said it has asked the County Clerk’s Office for a full review to determine why the questions were not included on the ballot.

The City of Sunland Park is now working with its bond counsel and financial advisor to bring the three questions before voters in a special election planned for spring 2027. A date has not yet been announced.

The city said the November 3 general election will proceed as scheduled, and all other races and ballot questions will remain unchanged. Residents who have already voted do not need to take any action.

The city also acknowledged that previous mailers, posters and other materials listed the bond questions on the November ballot. Those materials are outdated, and the city said it is working to update them.

“Residents were expecting to see these questions on their ballots, and we owe them a clear explanation,” City Manager Mario Juarez-Infante said. “We are working to find out what happened and to give voters the chance to decide on these projects in the spring.”

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