New Mexico House Speaker Ben Luján said Friday that he'll back legislation to fix a controversial election change passed during this year's legislative session.

Luján said he thinks lawmakers should reconsider a section of the law that affects who gets on the primary election ballot. "I don't think there was enough dialogue and discourse about this bill during the last session," he said in an interview. House Bill 1156 quietly sailed through the Legislature unanimously and was signed into law by Gov. Bill Richardson.

Whatever action the Legislature takes, or doesn't take, on the law could affect Luján's son, Public Regulation Commissioner Ben Ray Luján, who is considering running for the congressional seat U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., is giving up to run for the U.S. Senate.

The elder Luján said, "I think there's a 99 percent chance that he'll be running." He said he'd actively campaign for Ben Ray Luján: "Of course I would; he's my son."

As the law stands now, only candidates who win 20 percent or more of the delegate vote at their party's pre-primary convention get on the ballot.

Some Democrats are worried that the large number of Democratic candidates considering running for Udall's seat could leave all of them shy of the 20 percent mark at the pre-primary convention. There is no provision in the law to put anyone on the ballot who gets less than the 20 percent. That would mean the Democrats could, in effect, forfeit the race to the Republican candidate.

"I think we could change it where the parties could do some balloting until someone gets 20 percent," the elder Luján said.

However, he said changing that law could be rough. Next year's session is only 30 days. And adding an emergency clause needed to make the measure go into effect before the March pre-primary conventions requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers of the Legislature.

Speaker Luján seemed less enthusiastic about repealing another primary election change brought about by HB 1156. Before the bill became law, candidates who failed to get 20 percent of the pre-primary vote could win a place on the ballot by collecting more petition signatures than they had gathered to get on the convention ballot. However, the new law did away with the petition procedure.

The speaker said he understands the reasoning behind that change. Leaders of both political parties have said doing away with the petition route ensures the parties have a bigger role in selecting candidates.

However, Speaker Luján said he's not necessarily opposed to the change. "I believe this bill deserves more discussion," he said.

Santa Fe developer Don Wiviott and Santa Fe County Commissioner Harry Montoya have said they are running for the congressional seat. In addition to Ben Ray Luján, former County Commissioner Javier Gonzales, Española Mayor Joe Maestas, former state Rep. Patsy Trujillo, Sheriff Greg Solano and Farmington City Councilor Jason Sandel have said they are considering running. On the GOP side, Ron Dolin of Los Alamos, who lost to Udall last year in the general election, said Friday he's considering running again.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.