On March 14, the New Mexico House passed SB 180, so the bill now goes to the Governor. Among many other provisions, it doubles the number of signatures needed for the nominees of qualified minor parties, except for minor party presidential nominees. The vote was party-line, with all Democrats voting “yes” and all Republicans voting “no.”
New Mexico is the only state that requires the nominees of a qualified party to submit a petition to be on the November ballot. The law is discriminatory. It does not apply to parties that nominate by primary, but it does apply to parties that nominate by convention. It would be absurd to expect the winner of a primary to then file a petition to be on the general election ballot. But when someone has won a convention nomination from a qualified party, the need for a petition at that point is equally senseless.
The existing law, with nominee petitions of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, was challenged in federal court in 2006 by the ACLU. The Libertarian Party, the plaintiff, made some paperwork errors and all the evidence was barred, so the judge upheld the law without holding a trial. Now that the petition has been doubled, to 2% of the last gubernatorial vote, a new lawsuit is likely, this time probably by the Green Party.
The Libertarian Party nominates by primary so it is not affected by the new law. However, the ballot-qualified Libertarian Party in New Mexico is not affiliated any longer with the national Libertarian Party, so Libertarians in New Mexico who are aligned with the national party have been thinking of qualifying a new party. If they do, that new party (whatever its name) will be a minor party, and will be affected by the new law.
The only other state that ever required the nominees of a qualified party to submit nominee petitions was Maryland, but in 2003 the Maryland highest state court, the Court of Appeals, ruled that it is unconstitutional to require the nominees of a qualified party to submit petitions. They can be deemed to have public support because a qualified party nominated them.
The New Mexico legislators appear to have no understanding of this part of the bill. The sponsor of the bill told both committees that heard her bill that the bill was not making any changes to minor party ballot access rules, and she said the witnesses who testified against the bill were mistaken, although she did not say why.
Author is incorrect. Candidates who won primaries received the actual votes of multiple thousands of voters, thus showing public support. Candidates winning minor party convention nominations demonstrated the support of a tiny handful of party activists, usually because no one else sought the nomination, or by a vote of e.g. 12-10, etc. It is very rare for any minor party convention to have an overall attendance even in the hundreds, especially in a smaller population state such as NM where that might be unheard of.
Off the top of my head I’m not aware of any state minor party convention in any state that has had a thousand or more people attending, unless you count “outdoor conventions” in Washington State which are really just public petition signing “events” (or what would just be called petitioning in other states). There is thus a real difference in the level of public support demonstrated by winning a public primary vs that shown by winning a minor party convention. Thus the New Mexico law in question is rational, and a good model for other states to copy. I’ll discuss this with my legislators.
WHAT D/R GERRYMANDER ROBOT HACK IS N-O-T SENSELESS —
ESP WHEN IT COMES TO KILLNG OFF ANY COMPETITION ???
2023-1968 = X YEARS OF *MODERN* UN-EQUAL BALLOT ACCESS.
SOLVE FOR X.
Tully, in 2020, there were 12 Libertarians running in the New Mexico Libertarian primary for State House. They all received between 16 votes and 40 votes in the Libertarian primary. But the law didn’t require them to then submit a petition to be on the general election ballot. In the 21st district, Paul Ryan McKenney got 18 votes in the primary, but 2,142 in the general election. In the 45th district, Helen Milenski got 22 votes in the primary but 2,339 in the general election.
Minor parties (ballot-qualified under the NM Election Code) have demonstrated support because they collected thousands of signatures to be a qualified political party. “…I desire that the ______ Party be a qualified political party in the State of New Mexico.” is on the petition provided by the Office of the Secretary of State.
Is anyone actively lobbying against this bill?
The NM Green Party actively fought it, but they couldn’t stop it. No other minor party did anything, nor did the organization that holds itself out as representing New Mexico independent voters.
GPNM actively sought an amendment to strike the language that would increase petition requirements for minor parties and write-in candidates. It is an omnibus bill and 176 pages long. We think some other parts of the bill are good. One other group asked for the minor party language to be removed, and another group agreed with our concerns but wanted the bill to pass so supported it without further amendment.
CORRECTION: “minor PARTY and write-in candidates” not “parties”. The language is specific to candidates.
“The only other state that ever required the nominees of a qualified party to submit nominee petitions was Maryland”
Not so. This has always been the case in Massachusetts as far back as I can remember.
Other way around in Massachusetts and Maine (maybe other states too? The candidates have to get signatures to get on the primary ballot, even if they are the only one who wants to run for that office. In NM the winners of a minor party convention nomination have to petition to get on the general election ballot, even after the party already qualified.
Walter, the petitions that candidates must file to enter the Massachusetts and Maine primaries are not filed by nominees. A “nominee” is someone who has been nominated. Those petitions in Massachusetts and Maine are filed by people who hope to get a nomination. It’s a fundamental point.
Stupid, unneeded complexity. Parties should qualify by having a party representative who lives in a precinct and flies that party’s banner, representing it to the precinct in between elections, and shows up on election night to marshal his party’s forces. The winning party picks officeholders. Simple!!