RIO RANCHO — Jim Noel didn’t have to beat too many competitors to win out as state elections director at the Secretary of State’s Office.

There was only one — Bob Perls, a former two-term Democratic state legislator and a member of the Obama for President finance committee in New Mexico.

The two men were the only ones interviewed for what is arguably the top elections staff member in an agency charged with overseeing the state’s biggest election in decades.

The dearth of people interviewed for the position throws into question how extensive an effort the agency made to fill a vitally important position in the months leading up to this year’s elections.

Other people made inquiries about the position, Secretary of State Mary Herrera’s spokesman James Flores said Wednesday, but only Noel and Perls were asked in for interviews.

"The secretary asked for their resumes," Flores said.

The state elections director job is an "exempt" position in contrast to most state government positions, which are classified and are governed by a strict code of hiring practices.

In common parlance, exempt positions are political appointees.

Herrera’s hiring process appears to have changed since she brought on a new Bureau of Elections administrator earlier this year. In January, Herrera hired Daniel Miera to serve in that position — not an exempt position, but one posted with the State Personnel Office. At the time, she emphasized that Miera won the job in spite of intense competition from numerous applicants

According to a  story published in The Santa Fe Reporter, Herrera said there were 60 applicants for the job and that she personally screened the applicants "because this position is so important."

Miera has since left the that position.

Noel is the son-in-law of Democratic congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall. And Noel’s relationship to Udall has come under fire from Republicans who criticize the hiring as throwing the state’s elections system’s integrity into question.

Noel is scheduled to start Sept. 8 at an annual salary of $105,000, which is $23,000 more than was made by the last elections director, Daniel Ivey-Soto. He earned $82,000. Ivey-Soto, like Noel, is a lawyer and earned more than the previous state elections director under Secretary of State Mary Herrera’s predecessor — Rebecca Vigil-Giron.

Perls said Wednesday that he had no hard feelings about losing the job to Noel.

"I lost to a really qualified guy. He’s a lawyer. He’s got elections experience," Perls told the Independent.

In addition to running the state’s Judicial Standards Commission — a position Gov. Bill Richardson appointed him to — Noel was called in after this year’s Democratic presidential caucus as a presiding judge to help oversee the canvass — including the qualifiying process of provisional ballots. He was also involved in setting up the 2004 Democratic presidential caucus, according to reports.

Still, Perls said his impression was that the Secretary of State’s Office didn’t cast a wide net to fill the state elections director’s position, which has been vacant since March.

"My whole take on the process was that they were not casting about for dozens of names," Perls said. "I took the initiative" to apply for the position in June.

Both Herrera and her deputy, Don Francisco Trujillo, interviewed him in mid-July, Perls said, after which he called periodically to check in.

Perls said he also "left numerous messages for Secretary Herrera. I wanted to meet one on one with her. And she never returned my phone call."

Despite the dearth of candidates for the position, Perls said the GOP’s criticism of Noel for his relationship to Udall is off the mark.

"The Republicans are grasping at straws," Perls said.