CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – After the Cibola Citizen published its filingday roundup last week, with a list of the candidates for local offices and where the Secretary of State’s office says they get their mail, a candidate who qualified to be on June’s ballot disputed his reported home address.
Cibola County Commission District 3 candidate Democrat Stanley Michael contacted the newspaper to dispute a Rio Rancho address that appeared in the published candidate information.
The address was taken directly from the New Mexico Secretary of State’s candidate filing record provided to the newspaper.
Michael disputed the published information, saying he does not live in Rio Rancho and lives in Cibola County. To prove this, Michael texted the Citizen an Address Confidentiality Request he signed and submitted to the Secretary of State to block his Cibola County address from public records and instead use the Rio Rancho address in public records.
Michael said the Rio Rancho address shown in public record is an alternate mailing address tied to a state process that allows candidates to request confidentiality for their home address in election-related public inquiries.
Michael told the Cibola Citizen that the Rio Rancho address is occupied but that he spends most of his time living in Cibola County.
New Mexico election rules allow candidates to request that a home address be designated confidential while providing an alternate mailing address that remains subject to public record requests.
According to public records accessed March 17, Michael has been qualified by the Secretary of State to be on June’s ballot for the Cibola County Commission District 3 race.
The Cibola Citizen is publishing this clarification so readers understand that an address shown in public election records may reflect a mailing address rather than a residence address when a confidentiality request is on file.
The newspaper will continue to rely on official election records as the basis for published candidate information and will update coverage as records are revised by election officials.
Editor’s Note: Until the Secretary of State says otherwise, the Cibola Citizen will continue to report that Michael’s registered address when running for Cibola County Commission is in Rio Rancho. This is to respect the confidentiality request Candidate Michael submitted for his Cibola address.