The New Mexico Citizens Redistricting Commission, which is new, is required to have two members who are not registered into a major party. In New Mexico, the law recognizes the Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian Parties as “major parties.” If you are a New Mexico voter who would like to serve on the Commission, and you are not a member of either of those three parties, here is a press release which includes a link for applying.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
How many spots are reserved for each of the 3 major parties?
RESULT –
more ANTI-democracy minority rule –
1/2 or less votes x 1/2 districts [whoever/whatever makes them] = 1/4 or less CONTROL = oligarchy
——–
PR
Brandon – it’s a bit confusing if you follow the link. The press release says “non-major” but the details when you scroll down say “not a member of the largest or second-largest party”.
The charitable interpretation is that the press release is just sloppy and Libertarians should apply for the non-major slots only. The cynical interpretation is that they’re setting up a dead zone for the Libertarians, too major for the non-major seats but not one of the top two.
I guess someone could go read the law itself.
I think the key text is what’s below. Designation as a major party doesn’t figure into it. No “quotas” but it’s kind of hardwired to give two Republicans, two Democrats, two Others, and one retired judge to serve as chair.
The most likely number of Libertarians to be appointed is zero, the ethics commission would probably pick people not registered with any party, which isn’t unreasonable since they’re the largest category.
————————–
B. The committee is composed of seven members, appointed, with due regard to the cultural and geographic
diversity of the state, as follows:
(1) one member appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives;
(2) one member appointed by the minority floor leader of the house of representatives;
(3) one member appointed by the president pro tempore of the senate;
(4) one member appointed by the minority floor leader of the senate;
(5) two members appointed by the state ethics commission, who shall not be members of the largest or second largest political parties in the state; and
(6) one member appointed by the state ethics commission, who shall be a retired justice of the New Mexico supreme court or a retired judge of the New Mexico court of
appeals, and who shall chair the committee.
C. No more than three members of the committee shall be members of the same political party. A member of the committee shall not have changed party registration in the two years preceding the member’s appointment in such a manner that the member’s prior party registration would cause one political
party to have more than three members. A member of the committee shall not continue to serve on the committee if the member changes party registration after the date of appointment in such a manner as to cause one political party to have more than three members.
If that’s the case, it’s begging for a lawsuit.
The press release uses a colloquial meaning of major party. Presumably, the legislative leaders will choose 2 Democrats and two Republicans.
The Ethics Commission will choose three members. Two citizen members may not be members of the two largest parties. The chair is a retired justice of the supreme court or retired judge of the court of appeals.