On Saturday, March 2, the New Mexico House Judiciary Committee tabled HB 93 by a vote of 7-5. It would have let independent voters vote in the partisan primary of that voter’s choice. The bill had previously passed two other committees, the Consumer & Public Affairs Committee, and the State Government and Elections Committee.

The only surviving bill on this subject is SB 418, which would say that any party with its own primary is free to invite independent voters to vote in its primaries. That bill has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. It doesn’t actually change policy, because parties already have the right to invite independent voters into its primaries, due to the US Supreme Court decision Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut. However, putting that into the election code might make it more likely that a party might exercise its right to do that. Thanks to Rick Lass for the news about HB 93.