© 2024 KRWG
News that Matters.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Unite New Mexico Opposes Straight Party Ticket Option For Voters

Commentary: On August 30, Unite NM filed a lawsuit with the New Mexico Supreme Court asking the court to prohibit the SOS from unilaterally re-implementing straight party voting. The case is S-1-SC-37227.

The legislature repealed straight party voting in 2001 and Democratic legislators tried to re-instate it in 2011 through 2013 and failed. The facts of the case are laid out clearly in the attachment. Mr. Blair Dunn, attorney for Unite NM, and Board member, filed the case. Filing with Unite New Mexico is the Libertarian Party, the Republican Party, Heather Nordquist (Democrat write-in candidate for HD 46), and Elect-Liberty PAC (Gary Johnson for U.S. Senate).

As a non-partisan non-profit and experts in campaign and election reform, Unite NM stands strongly opposed to the Secretary of State enabling straight party voting. In New Mexico it will benefit the Democrats, but in another Republican majority state it would benefit the Republicans and we would oppose it in that situation as well.

“Who it hurts is obvious: it hurts the independent and minor party candidates who need the voters to remember to vote for them. Saving someone 30 seconds at the ballot box does not improve voter turnout, it just enables lazy voting,” said Bob Perls, Co-Chair of Unite New Mexico.

“A Democrat who votes straight party and does not want the Republican to get elected in a race with only an independent and a Republican candidate will not get to vote for the independent. The odds they will forget go way up. If they go through the whole ballot, which nowadays takes only a minute or two, they will see the races where there is only an independent and a candidate for the party they do not support,” said Steve Cabeides, co-chair of Unite NM.

As more and more people choose not to identify with any party, the placement of straight party ticketing goes against the rising tide of public desires. 45 percent of Americans and 25 percent of New Mexicans do not affiliate with a party. 60 percent of millennials are independents, preferring not to join a political party.

Mr. Dunn is a Libertarian candidate for New Mexico Attorney General and a lawyer in private practice in New Mexico, stated, “what is most concerning is the utter lack of care at the very self-dealing actions of the Secretary of State to stack the deck in her favor and the failure of Attorney General Balderas to enforce the law because this benefits him.”

“In the end, the voter is hurt when our election system makes elections less competitive. New Mexico already has the greatest number of non-competitive races in the Nation. By implementing a system that makes it harder for candidates to run without a major party label it continues our grand tradition of re-electing incumbents, many of whom have had no competition for a decade or two. Competition forces accountability and accountability is the bedrock of democracy,” concluded Perls.