{"id":1265,"date":"2007-02-15T11:54:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-15T17:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/legislators-wont-ease-minor-party-ballot-access\/"},"modified":"2007-02-15T11:54:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-15T17:54:00","slug":"legislators-wont-ease-minor-party-ballot-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/legislators-wont-ease-minor-party-ballot-access\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislators won’t ease minor-party ballot access"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A bill whose aim was leveling the playing field for minor parties in the area of ballot access was tabled and effectively killed by Democratic members of a House committee this morning. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The discussion provided insight into the perspective of Democrats, who have controlled state government for more than seven decades.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

House Bill 331<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. Brian Moore<\/a>, R-Clayton, would eliminate the state\u2019s requirement of two petitions before minor parties can place candidates on the ballot.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The issue stems from an unsuccessful lawsuit filed last year by the American Civil Liberties Union<\/a> and Libertarian Party of New Mexico<\/a> challenging the law on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. Democrats and Republicans who want to run for office have to gather a number of signatures to run, but their parties don\u2019t have to file separate petitions containing a certain number of signatures.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Minor-party candidates have to do both.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Moore<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s bill sought to change the law to eliminate the requirement that individual minor-party candidates gather signatures. Moore<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s bill proposed that minor-party candidates need only the nomination of their parties, which would submit nominating petitions to the secretary of state\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

At today\u2019s hearing, a representative of the ACLU spoke in support of the bill, saying it would eliminate \u201cthe extra step that minor parties have to go through.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But Daniel Ivey-Soto, the state\u2019s elections director, spoke on behalf of Secretary of State Mary Herrera in opposing the bill. Major-party candidates would still have to gather signatures if the legislation were enacted, but minor-party candidates would not have to do that, instead relying on their parties to nominate them.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel that it actually creates a disparity against the major parties,\u201d Ivey-Soto said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The argument among minor parties is that Democrats and Republicans have to gather signatures to reduce the number of candidates who run in primaries, which are the nominating process of the major parties. Minor parties, with fewer members and candidates, can come up with their own, simplified systems for nominating candidates, they argue, because they don\u2019t need primaries.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Bob Walsh, who spoke in support of the bill, pointed out another disparity against those who aren\u2019t Democrats and Republicans \u2013 minor-party members and independents pay taxes to fund Democratic and Republican primaries, but can\u2019t vote in them.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cSo it is really important to minimize the barriers to get them on the ballot,\u201d Walsh said.<\/p>\n

\n

Democrats didn\u2019t like proposal<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Rep. Edward Sandoval<\/a>, D-Albuquerque, agreed with Ivey-Soto.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d be going backwards instead of forward here,\u201d he said about the proposed legislation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a>, R-Albuquerque, defended the bill, and also turned the discussion toward those who register to vote without membership in any party \u2013 so-called \u201cindependents\u201d \u2013 whose ballot access requirements weren\u2019t addressed in Moore<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s bill. Arnold-Jones pointed out that independents are the fastest-growing group of voters in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, and now make up more than 15 percent of the total.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cSomewhere along the line, we as major parties have disenfranchised these voters, and we need to be sure they have a voice,\u201d Arnold-Jones said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Rep. Debbie Rodella<\/a>, D-Ohkay Owingeh, disagreed, saying she believes many people register independent of a party not because they don\u2019t want to be party members but because, when they are filling out voter registration forms, they \u201coverlook\u201d the section on the form where they can specify party membership.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Arnold-Jones countered that she is \u201cconvinced that there are a growing group of people who are really angry with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI do not think that prohibiting access is our intention,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not our intention, but that\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Speaker of the House Ben Lujan<\/a>, D-Namb\u00e9 and a member of the committee, said that, if people want an easier path toward getting their names on the ballot, they should register as Democrats or Republicans.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The committee\u2019s six Democrats who were present then voted in favor of tabling the bill. The four Republicans who were present voted against the motion.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Moore<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> was late in arriving to present his bill, as were several others who were scheduled. Though the committee\u2019s chair, Rep. Jose Campos<\/a>, D-Santa Rosa, could have begun a hearing on another bill whose sponsor was present, he instead had Arnold-Jones, who was not well educated on Moore<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s bill, present it in his absence.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Moore<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> arrived moments after his bill was tabled to find that he had not been given a chance to defend it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bill whose aim was leveling the playing field for minor parties in the area of ballot access was tabled and effectively killed by Democratic members of a House committee this morning. The discussion provided insight into the perspective of Democrats, who have controlled state government for more than seven decades. House Bill 331, sponsored […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}