House Speaker Ben Lujan said today he will support changing a law that limits ballot access for some major-party candidates during the upcoming 30-day session.
“Yeah, I will support any possible way of getting more people to be able to participate in the process,” Lujan said. “The more the merrier.”
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.
Third Congressional District candidate Don Wiviott is suing to challenge the law, and a number of legislators, including Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez of Belen, Minority Leader Stuart Ingle of Portales and Rep. Jose Campos, D-Santa Rosa, are proposing changing the law to provide an alternate path to the ballot – changes that would take effect immediately because of the preprimary conventions that will be held in March.
Lujan said he supports providing an alternate path to the ballot.
There are some hurdles to approval. Such a change can’t be considered unless Gov. Bill Richardson agrees to let the bill be heard during the session, and the governor hasn’t said whether he’ll do that. In addition, Lujan said the emergency clause means two-thirds of House and Senate members would have to approve the change for the bill take effect immediately.
Lujan said he thinks it can be done.
“It’s very, very possible to happen. I’m glad to see the Republicans are supporting it, because initially they were not,” he said.
Speculation has been rampant that Lujan would try to block changes to the law during the session because his son is one of a number of Democrats running for the Third Congressional District seat. Many politicos believe the current law helps his son, because it makes it more difficult for opponents of the powerful speaker to get on the ballot.
But Lujan said he is a proponent of ballot access.
“I don’t have any problem with having an alternative way of getting people on the ballot if they so desire,” he said. “I feel that people should have an opportunity if they’re interested in running for office.”
Update, 4:40 p.m.
In a news release, state GOP Executive Director Adam Feldman said this about Lujan’s assertion that it was the GOP that originally wasn’t supporting an alternate path to the ballot.
“The Republican Party has been steadfast in its criticism of Lujan’s restrictive ballot law, and supportive of allowing another path onto the ballot for those who do not meet the 20 percent threshold at the pre-primary convention,” he said. “Furthermore, we have advocated a legislative fix to the problem, something that most political observers believed would not happen because of Lujan’s heavy-handed, patron-style politics. Throwing blame on Republicans is deceptive and disingenuous, and Lujan should stop doing so immediately.”