As previously reported, New Mexico SB 180 has already passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, and may receive a Senate vote at any time. It raises the petition for the nominee of a ballot-qualified convention party from 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 2%, for almost all offices, unless the party has about 12,000 registered members.

Please e-mail the Secretary of State at secretary.state@state.nm.us. Be courteous. Tell Maggie Toulouse Oliver that SB 180, an omnibus bill written by her office, should be amended to delete any change in the number of signatures for minor party nominees.

Already, for a US Senate candidate running in 2022, New Mexico required an independent to submit a petition of 2% of the last gubernatorial vote. For the nominee of a new party, two petitions would be required; one signed by .5% of the last gubernatorial vote to qualify the party, and then another petition signed by 1% of the last gubernatorial vote for each of that party’s nominees. No matter whether one considers the independent petition, or the minor party set of petitions, that makes New Mexico one of the most severe states in the nation for ballot access for office other than president (the New Mexico presidential requirements are easier than for other office).

Furthermore, New Mexico is the only state in the nation which requires the nominee of a qualified party to submit a petition to be on the general election ballot. That law is discriminatory because it doesn’t apply to parties that nominate by primary. Also it is not sensible to require two separate petitions. Maryland once had a similar law, but the highest state court invalidated it on the sensible grounds that once a party has attained qualified status, its nominees can be deemed to have support. Maryland Green Party v Maryland State Board of Elections, 832 A 2d 214 (2003).

On December 23, 2022, an Alaska state trial court issued in opinion in Kowalke v Eastman, 3AN-22-07404. It says that Representative David Eastman is not disqualified from serving in the legislature, even though he attended the January 6, 2021 event at the national capitol and even though he is a member of Oath Keepers. The ruling says Eastman did not have the intent to overthrow the government.

The lawsuit had been based on Alaska Constitution Article 12, section 4. Here is the opinion.

That part of the Alaska Constitution says “No person who advocates, or who aids or belongs to any party or organization or association which advocates, the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the United States or of the State shall be qualified to hold any public office of trust or profit under this constitution.”

This newspaper story says there are more than 200 election law bills pending in the Texas legislature. Unfortunately, there are no bills to ease ballot access, which is among the worst in the nation.

But there is a bill to add the statewide initiative process, SJR 25. The sponsor is Senator Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas). Thanks to Linda Curtis for that news.