Senate leaders want to change ballot-access law

The leaders of both parties in the New Mexico Senate announced today that they will attempt to overturn during this year’s legislative session a law approved last year that makes it more difficult for some major-party candidates to get on the ballot.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez of Belen and Minority Leader Stuart Ingle of Portales have pre-filed Senate Bill 1, which would repeal the changes made last year.

“It’s important that candidates continue to be allowed other avenues for getting on the ballot,” Sanchez said. “The system we have had for many years was working well. Restoring the original language is the right thing to do because giving voters choices is what it’s all about.”

The bill won’t go anywhere in the 30-day session unless Gov. Bill Richardson allows it. Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said the governor “has not yet made final decisions on the agenda” for the session.

The news of Senate Bill 1 comes a day after Third Congressional District candidate Don Wiviott, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit against the state in an attempt to overturn the new law.

Under the previous law, Democrats and Republicans could get on the ballot by receiving the votes of 20 percent of delegates at their party’s preprimary nominating convention or, if they failed to do that, by submitting petitions containing enough signatures to qualify. The 2007 change, approved unanimously by lawmakers and signed by the governor, got rid of the second provision, and was designed to increase the power of those who control the major parties.

The change makes is harder for candidates like Wiviott, who aren’t part of the established political system, to get on the ballot, and also creates the possibility that, if no candidate receives 20 percent at the preprimary, the party won’t place a candidate on the ballot.

There appears to be growing momentum for an attempt to repeal the 2007 changes to the law. State Rep. Jose Campos, D-Santa Rosa, told the Santa Fe New Mexican for an article published today that he will also introduce legislation that would provide an alternate path to the ballot. Instead of merely reverting to the old law, Campos’ bill would require that a candidate gather signatures from every county he or she is seeking to represent to ensure there is widespread support before that person gets on the ballot.

House Speaker Ben Luján, whose son is running for the same congressional seat as Wiviott and may benefit from the new law’s limitations on ballot access, told The New Mexican he has concerns with the new law but doesn’t think it’s likely the Legislature can change it during the upcoming session.

But there is momentum, if Richardson will allow consideration of the bill, and both parties have motivation to change the law. There are a number of Democrats running for the Third Congressional District seat and a number of Republicans running for the Second Congressional District seat, and it’s possible that both parties could be without a candidate on the ballot in a congressional race unless the law is changed.

Update, 3:55 p.m.

Third Congressional District Democratic candidate Harry Montoya called today in a news release for the governor and Legislature to repeal the change made to the law last year, stating that he believes the current system is unconstitutional.

“I question the motives behind this change as it has only served to disenfranchise the voters,” Montoya said. “This process narrows the selection of candidates to a few hundred delegates rather than rely on the wisdom and preference of the collective voters of New Mexico.”

Though Wiviott has called on the other Democrats in the race to join his lawsuit, Montoya said he will look to the Legislature “rather than face costly and confrontational legal challenges.”

“This is about ensuring the Democratic election process so that all voters in our party can have an opportunity to choose the candidate who they feel will best represent them in Washington, D.C.,” Montoya said.