Tijuana, May 31 – The Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judicial Branch refused to review the merits of a challenge filed by a candidate for judge in Mexicali, who alleged unfairness in the design of the ballots to be used this Sunday in the election of members of the Baja California judiciary.
Thus, the highest electoral authority effectively endorsed the ballot design and the "joint candidacies" of judges and magistrates agreed upon by the three branches of government for this election.
Patricia Moreno Galván, a candidate for judge in the Mexicali judicial district—and currently a sitting judge—challenged on May 5th the resolution issued by the State Electoral Institute on March 30th, approving the design of the ballots that will be used tomorrow, more than a month later. The law establishes a five-day deadline for filing an appeal.
The complainant told La Jornada Baja California that she appealed as soon as she was notified that there was only one box to vote en bloc for a group of local candidates for positions in the judicial branch. However, the reporting judge, Janine Otálora Malassis, considered that the publication of the resolution made by the Electoral Institute (at the time) in court was completely legal.
On March 30, the General Council of the local Institute approved agreement I. SUP-JDC-2110/2025 (IEEBC/CGE53/2025), which approved the designs and technical specifications of the electoral documentation to be used in the Extraordinary Local Electoral Process for the election of judges of the Judicial Branch of the State of Baja California.
Moreno Galván appealed to the local court more than a month later—file JC-49/2025—which dismissed the case because it was "filed untimely." The case was appealed to the Guadalajara Regional Court, which referred it to the highest court of appeal, the higher court of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judicial Branch.
