Time to change election code to increase democracy

By Carol Miller

The leadership of the New Mexico Legislature has finally caught itself in its web of changes to the election code, each designed to take choices away from the voters of the state. Every year at the Legislature, ballot access advocates have watched these changes with horror, observing New Mexico’s slide into the group of states with the worst ballot access and fewest voter choices.

Now that Speaker Ben Lujan finds his son caught in this web, we might get some change, but let’s go for real change that increases democracy.

Last year, the 2007 Legislature passed House Bill 1156, which states among its purposes, right at the top of the bill, “eliminating provisions allowing candidates who fail to receive preprimary convention designation to become a candidate.” The section lawmakers repealed used to allow a candidate to get on the ballot by going directly to voters, getting their signatures and submitting nominating petitions to the secretary of state. If candidates asked at the preprimary convention for a ballot spot but did not receive the votes of 20 percent of delegates, they could go back to the voters, collect additional signatures and submit the additional nominating petitions to the secretary of state.

Letting voters place candidates on the ballot – instead of party activists – was just too much democracy for New Mexico Democrats. Even though this process had worked for years, it was eliminated without any thought for the consequences. The goal was to let party insiders choose the candidates and let the voters only choose among those favored by the insiders. The irony is that in races with a lot of candidates, it’s possible that no candidate will get 20 percent of the vote, and the party could end up without any candidate at all.

So now some Democrats want to declare an emergency in the 2008 Legislature to change this bad law in time for the March 2008 preprimary conventions. They may try to re-establish a process to let voters place candidates on the ballot. But why not also pass a law to assure that once candidates are on the ballot, only those winning a majority of votes become the victor? Or is that too much democracy for New Mexico?

Instant runoff voting now

Over the past 10 years, several New Mexico legislators have introduced bills to enact a system of voting that assures that every person elected always has a majority of the votes. It is simple, it is the essence of democracy and it has always been defeated in New Mexico. Instant runoff voting (IRV) is not new. Developed by a mathematician and used in Cambridge, Mass. for 70 years, it has been adopted as the fairest voting system by numerous countries, cities and states around the United States.

Instant runoff voting is as easy as one, two, three. Voters choose their first, second and third choice (or more on a very full ballot) and the winner must receive a majority of votes, at least 50 percent plus one. It works like regular runoff elections but does not require a separate, second election with extra costs and frequently reduced voter turnout. The non-partisan Center for Voting and Democracy has been leading advocacy for IRV for years and held several workshops in New Mexico for voters and legislators.

It works like this: Votes are counted the same way as in any election and if a candidate receives the majority, he or she is elected. If no candidate gets 50 percent, votes are re-allocated. The candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated and the second-place votes cast by his or her voters are re-assigned while the remaining voters continue to support their first choice. Often a candidate with a majority is elected in this second round. In a race with many candidates, the process is repeated until a majority winner is elected.

Voters in states and localities that allow initiative and referendum are passing IRV in every election cycle across the United States, from Vermont to North Carolina to San Francisco to Colorado. As the word spreads on its benefits, costs savings and, most important, voter satisfaction, other places are choosing this important democracy builder.

Speaker Lujan, please give us more democracy in New Mexico, give us elections where the candidate who wins an election is always chosen by a majority of the voters. Give New Mexico instant runoff voting.

Miller is a longtime political activist and a member of the Green Party of New Mexico.