State District Judge Albert J. Mitchell Jr. of Tucumcari lost his bid for retention in the November election, but he may not have to leave the job.

That's because Mitchell has applied to fill the vacancy that will be created Jan. 1 by his election loss.

It's an odd – and apparently new – twist to New Mexico's 26-year-old system of appointing, electing and retaining judges. There is no law that explicitly says judges can't be appointed to vacancies created by their losses in retention elections....