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Certain political groups no longer have to disclose their donors in sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 municipal races thanks to a Wednesday court ruling that comes as runoff candidates sprint to the finish of election season.

The ruling could have 鈥渟ignificant impacts鈥� on the future of municipal races, said Brian Sanderoff, a longtime New Mexico political observer and president of sa国际传媒官网网页入口-based Research & Polling Inc.

鈥淭hese safeguards give voters clear information in elections where spending by candidates and outside groups can easily exceed $1 million,鈥� City Clerk Ethan Watson said in a statement Thursday. 鈥渟a国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 rules have helped bring that activity into the open for years, giving residents a clearer view of who is trying to influence local races. This temporary ruling opens the door for more dark-money spending and large outside donors to operate with less visibility, and we remain committed to protecting transparency for sa国际传媒官网网页入口 voters.鈥�

Advocacy nonprofits, classified as , no longer have to abide by the City鈥檚 Election Code requirement of disclosing their top five donors, some of those donors鈥� contributors and registering as measure finance committees 鈥� defined as any group that donates more than $250 to a candidate鈥檚 campaign, according to an opinion by U.S. District Judge James Browning.

The Election Code has been in place since 2012, but language was changed in February to 鈥渆nhance clarity and transparency,鈥� according to the City Clerk鈥檚 Office.

The rule change may open up municipal races to more anonymous donations, which Sanderoff said are often already seen in national and state races when multimillion-dollar organizations donate to a chain of smaller groups until it ends up in a campaign鈥檚 pocket with little public paper trail linking the two.

鈥淭here are 501(c)(4)s on both sides of the ideological fence,鈥� Sanderoff said. 鈥淔or sure, in future elections, other organizations will get involved on both sides of the ideological spectrum.鈥�

The lawsuit was filed last week by three progressive advocacy groups, Center for Civic Action, ProgressNow New Mexico and Semilla Action, who have a collective annual budget of more than $2.5 million, according to court documents.

CEO of Center for Civic Action Oriana Sandoval said in a statement Thursday that the city鈥檚 Election Code鈥檚 disclosure requirements were 鈥渋ntrusive.鈥�

鈥淲e support free, fair and transparent elections, provided transparency measures do not restrict our First Amendment right to inform voters about key issues and candidates,鈥� Sandoval said.

Sara Berger, a lawyer representing CCA, called the city鈥檚 Election Code 鈥渁rchaic鈥� and 鈥渦nconstitutional.鈥�

鈥淭hat鈥檚 not transparency, that鈥檚 overreach,鈥� Berger said of the code.

Judge Browning agreed, citing previous court precedent.

Browning ruled that the city鈥檚 election code violated the groups鈥� 鈥渞ight to free speech and free expression.鈥�

In the lawsuit, the groups argued that listing their top donors may expose people whose funds were used for other aspects of the nonprofits鈥� operations, not electioneering. That requirement could discourage donations from people who prefer to keep their names out of the public eye, they said.

There are a lot of reasons political donors want to remain anonymous, Sanderoff said, and not making enemies with the opposing side is just one.

CCA鈥檚 lawyer, Berger, said that revealing the group鈥檚 donors and compelling those donors to share some of their contributors would make fundraising much more difficult.

鈥淚magine how chilling that would be to try to raise funds,鈥� Berger said.

Local impacts

The groups planned to collectively spend $60,000 on a mix of advertising and campaign activities for the runoff election, such as canvassing, distributing literature and buying social media ads, according to court documents. The groups argued those funds were an 鈥渋nsubstantial鈥� part of their budgets.

Now, those groups, and other 501(c)(4)s, are under no obligation to share where that money came from.

So far, CCA has spent $6,000 in the City Council runoff, supporting progressive political newcomers, Teresa Garcia running in District 3 and Stephanie Telles running in District 1, according to the latest finance disclosure .

If the pair successfully flip the seats 鈥� beating out a conservative challenger and incumbent Klarissa Pe帽a, a moderate Democrat 鈥� the majority conservative City Council will be more progressive, balancing the council between the left and right.

Those donations amount to 33% of Garcia鈥檚 campaign contributions and 16% of Telles鈥�.

CCA also supported mayoral candidate Alex Uballez鈥檚 campaign during the general election. None of the three groups have contributed to the mayoral runoff thus far.

Other groups, such as political action committees, will still have to register with the city clerk and disclose their donors under the City鈥檚 Election Code.

With little under two weeks before the start of early voting, it鈥檚 uncertain if there is enough time for other advocacy groups to get in on the action and sway the election with more funds and less requirements, Sanderoff said.

鈥淲e鈥檒l have to wait and see,鈥� Sanderoff said.