BERNALILLO — Voters participating in the Nov. 2 election for the Rio Rancho Public Schools Board of Education won’t have many choices to make that day: Only four candidates filed for three seats.

Former Rio Rancho High School Principal Gary Tripp was the first of four candidates filing on Tuesday to run for a seat on the Rio Rancho Public Schools Board of Education.
(Gary Herron/Observer)

District 3 incumbent Jeffery Morgan, elected two years ago to conclude the term of Katherine Covey, was the lone person to file Tuesday at the Sandoval County Bureau of Elections office.

In District 5, where board member Catherine Cullen opted not to run for a third term, only Jessica A. Tyler, the wife of Rio Rancho City Councilor Bob Tyler, filed for the seat.

The “big showdown” will be in District 1, where current board member Wynne Coleman, elected in 2017, decided not to run for re-election.

There, former Rio Rancho High School Principal Gary Tripp, a former executive director of the New Mexico Activities Association, and Patrick Monroe Brenner filed declarations of candidacy.

Things could change. The Write-In Candidate Filing Day for the election is Tuesday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with those “new” candidates requiring a Declaration of Intent form. The last day for candidates to withdraw is also Tuesday.