{"id":2771,"date":"2008-01-23T11:40:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-23T17:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/plan-to-provide-alternate-path-to-ballot-faces-hurdles\/"},"modified":"2008-01-23T11:40:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-23T17:40:00","slug":"plan-to-provide-alternate-path-to-ballot-faces-hurdles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/plan-to-provide-alternate-path-to-ballot-faces-hurdles\/","title":{"rendered":"Plan to provide alternate path to ballot faces hurdles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>What do you do if you want to create the appearance that you support providing an alternate path to the ballot for major-party candidates but don\u2019t actually want to provide such an alternate path to the ballot? <\/p>\n

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

You sponsor a bill that places requirements that are nearly impossible to reach and, in practicality, don\u2019t provide an alternate path to the ballot. That\u2019s especially effective in a 30-day session, when creating dissent can bog down a bill until there\u2019s no time left to pass it.<\/p>\n

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

That\u2019s exactly what Rep. Jose Campos<\/a>, D-Santa Rosa, is accused of doing.<\/p>\n

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

At issue is whether Democrats and Republicans who don\u2019t secure 20 percent at their party\u2019s preprimary nominating convention should be allowed another way to get on the ballot. Under the previous law, they could do that by submitting petitions containing enough signatures to qualify, but a 2007 change, approved unanimously by lawmakers and signed by the governor, got rid of the second provision.<\/p>\n

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

A bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House and Senate have sponsored legislation (read the House bill here<\/a> and the Senate bill here<\/a>) that would return the law to the way things were before the 2007 change. But Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is making a different proposal that, at this stage, is the biggest threat to returning ballot access to major-party candidates who can\u2019t secure the votes of 20 percent of party insiders.<\/p>\n

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

<\/a><\/p>\n

Campos\u2019 proposal<\/a>, instead of merely requiring a certain number of signatures to get on the ballot, would give potential candidates less than three weeks to gather the signatures and would also require that those signatures come from every county in the state or congressional district. Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> says his goal is providing a voice to rural communities, not restricting ballot access.<\/p>\n

\n

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

Many say Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019 proposal is unreasonable<\/span><\/p>\n

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

After speaking with several current and former political candidates, politicians and campaign workers, I get the sense that the majority who have done this find Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019 proposal unreasonable and disingenuous. Being given less than three weeks to reach every county makes this a restrictive proposal that\u2019s not much better than the current law that provides no alternate path to the ballot, many said.<\/p>\n

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

Of course, conspiracy theories abound. They center on a suspicion that Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> \u2013 a close ally of House Speaker Ben Lujan<\/a> \u2013 doesn\u2019t want the law changed because he wants to make it more difficult for other Democrats to run against the speaker\u2019s son for the open Third Congressional District seat.<\/p>\n

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

I was unable to reach Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> for comment. Lujan, for his part, says he supports providing an alternate path to the ballot. I asked today which bill he supports \u2013 the more restrictive one sponsored by Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> or the bill that would undo the 2007 changes, which is sponsored by Reps. Al Park<\/a>, D-Albuquerque, and Justine Fox-Young<\/a>, R-Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

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

Lujan said he doesn\u2019t know which bill he supports, but said both bills will soon be considered by the Consumer and Public Affairs Committee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI don\u2019t know which bill will move out of there,\u201d Lujan said. \u201cI haven\u2019t even read them at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Whichever bill makes it out of that committee also has to get by the Voters and Elections Committee<\/a>, which is chaired by Campos<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> and includes Lujan as a member.<\/p>\n

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

An additional hurdle<\/span><\/p>\n

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

There\u2019s another hurdle. To take effect immediately \u2013 before the March 15 preprimary nominating conventions \u2013 either bill would need the approval of two-thirds of House members. <\/p>\n

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

You might recall that Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> was the visible leader last year of the effort to kill a bill that proposed reform of the housing-authority system. A coalition of Republicans and Democrats threatened to blast the bill out of the committee that refused to pass it and bring it directly to the House floor for consideration, and they had enough votes to make good on the threat. That forced a compromise and got the bill by Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> and the speaker.<\/p>\n

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

\n

But getting a simple majority \u2013 which Park and Fox-Young could probably do for their bill \u2013 is much easier than getting two-thirds. Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez<\/a> of Belen, one of the sponsors of the Senate version of the Park\/Fox-Young bill, has already floated the idea that resolving this situation might have to wait until the 60-day session in 2009.<\/p>\n

\n

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

That would leave the current law that provides no alternate path to the ballot in effect for the 2008 election cycle. Five Democrats threaten to split the preprimary vote in the Third Congressional District race, and seven Republicans threaten to split the vote in the Second District, to the point that few \u2013 if any, in the case of the GOP in CD2 \u2013 will secure the 20 percent needed to get on the ballot.<\/p>\n

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

And that’s why Third Congressional District candidate Don Wiviott<\/a> is suing to challenge the law. If the Legislature doesn\u2019t act, there\u2019s a chance the law will be found unconstitutional and the 2007 changes will be tossed out before the March preprimaries.<\/p>\n

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

Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 1:35 p.m.<\/p>\n

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

In an interview, Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> said criticism of his bill is unfair, and he sharply criticized Park, Fox-Young and others who disagree.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cDon\u2019t cheapen the voice of rural New Mexico<\/st1:State>, and I think that\u2019s what these Albuquerque<\/st1:City> metro people are trying to do,\u201d Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> said.<\/p>\n

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

He said under the old law, and the Park\/Fox-Young proposal, political hopefuls have 10 days to gather the number of signatures required to run. In making them go to every county they seek to represent to gather those signatures, Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>\u2019 proposal also doubles the time period to 20 days.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIf you\u2019re not serious about representing all New Mexicans, you should not run,\u201d Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> said. \u201cMaybe it is easier for them to not have to go to the rural areas, but as long as I\u2019m chair of voters and elections I\u2019m going to try to get a greater voice for rural New Mexico<\/st1:State><\/st1:place>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do you do if you want to create the appearance that you support providing an alternate path to the ballot for major-party candidates but don\u2019t actually want to provide such an alternate path to the ballot? You sponsor a bill that places requirements that are nearly impossible to reach and, in practicality, don\u2019t provide […]<\/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-2771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2771","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=2771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}