ACLU comes to defense of minor parties

The American Civil Liberties Union is coming to the defense of minor political parties in New Mexico, and it’s about time.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in Albuquerque, the ACLU is attacking a state law that requires minor parties to twice gather signatures to get candidates on the ballot – once to petition for formal party status, then again to get their names on the ballot, according to an Associated Press article that you can read via the Albuquerque Journal.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Libertarian Party of New Mexico and its four candidates who are trying to get on the November ballot. The ACLU says the law violates the right of political association by forcing the minor parties to obtain signatures from people who aren’t party members.

The Libertarian Party has already gathered the signatures to become recognized with formal party status. Currently, the law says its candidates must gather additional signatures to be placed on the ballot.

Democrats and Republicans don’t have to do that in New Mexico, the only state that requires it of minor parties.

The law is exclusionary. Though they often fight, the reality is that both major parties work together to keep other parties out as a way to hold onto their own power.

Hopefully a federal judge will toss out this senseless law. But even more needs to be done. The requirements placed on independent candidates in New Mexico are even more insurmountable. They have to get many, many more signatures than even the minor parties to appear on the ballot.

At a time when registration in minor parties and independent of a party is on the rise in New Mexico and nearing one-third of registered voters in Doña Ana County, those voters need to be on an equal playing field with Democrats and Republicans.

It’s the American way.