Commentary: As your secretary of state, I am formatting the 2018 general election ballot to once again include the option for “straight-party” voting because this option makes voting easier and increases ballot access.
The straight-party option allows a voter to cast a single vote for all partisan candidates of one party – known as a ticket or slate – simply by marking the oval next to that major party’s name at the top of the ballot. Voters can do this and still choose candidates of different political parties in any individual partisan race. Straight-party simply gives voters a choice of how to cast their vote. And, for working moms stopping at the polling place before picking up the kids, or for the elderly veteran who can’t stand at a voting booth for long, the straight-party option makes participating in an election easier. In fact, voters who choose to use the straight-party option will find their time in the voting booth cut in half, if not more.
Of course, voters can also ignore the straight-party option altogether and fill in the oval next to every candidate they support. Questions nonpartisan in nature – starting from the retention of judges down through constitutional or ballot questions – will always require the voter fill in an oval for each individual race or question.
New Mexico law gives the secretary of state the explicit authority to decide the format of the paper ballots used in our elections. It’s this authority that former Republican Secretary of State Dianna Duran used in 2012 when she decided to deprive New Mexico voters of this voting option, which had been available for as long as many voters can remember. It’s that exact same authority that I’m using to format the 2018 general election ballot to again include the straight-party option. State law neither bans nor allows straight-party voting.
You’ll hear some falsely claim that I’m reinstating straight-party voting solely for partisan reasons to help Democrats. That’s simply not true. The straight-party option makes it easier for those voters who chose to use it to cast their ballot. And I have always, and will always, fight for policies that make it easier to vote – not harder.
Further, in 2010, the last time New Mexico used straight-party voting, Republican Susana Martinez was elected governor and Republican Duran was elected secretary of state. So claims that straight-party voting helps Democrats simply aren’t true. In fact, reporting shows that Democrats and Republicans use the straight-party option at about the same rate.
Nationally, other states have looked to straight-party voting to make voting more accessible, and the courts are supporting them. Just last month, a federal judge ruled that without Michigan’s simple and easy-to-use straight-party voting option, voters would face long lines at the polls, which would effectively discriminate against African-American voters. Put another way: straight-party voting makes it easier to vote and increases access to the ballot box; getting rid of it makes it harder to vote and ends up hurting voters who may already be marginalized in our society.
Since 2012, when I was Bernalillo County clerk, and now, as secretary of state, I’ve been asked by New Mexicans time and again, “Are we going to get the straight-party option back? It made voting so much easier!” My answer has always been, “yes.” That’s why I’m formatting our ballots to include the straight-party option. I’m keeping my word, I’m making it easier to vote in New Mexico, and, as a result, I’m making our democratic process stronger.