No need to appeal voting decision

Oh, petty, thy name is the Martinez administration. Under current interpretation of state law, workers can take off two hours to exercise a basic civic duty — voting in elections, whether municipal, county, state or national. Employers, as the law is understood, pay those workers even though they are not in the office. State statute requires that a worker “shall not be liable to any penalty” if she or he needs a few hours off work to vote. This covers both private and public employees, with the idea being that workers should take off if they don’t have time before or after work to stop by a polling place. For those who have ample time — a late or early shift worker — the two-hour paid leave doesn’t apply.

Now, to us non-lawyers — and to many actual attorneys who make a living interpreting laws — losing two hours of pay constitutes a mighty stiff penalty. That’s also the understanding of Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, chief elections officer for the state. Then, there is this expert: In 1985, the state Court of Appeals stated that New Mexico’s law is meant “to provide an incentive for workers to vote, without deduction of salary.” No, no, says the Martinez administration. Foiled — for now — in a lawsuit challenging New Mexico government employees’ right to take paid time off to vote in municipal elections, the State Personnel Office is adding a new argument to its appeal. Not only does the statute not cover municipal elections, the statute does not require employers to pay for wages lost.

First, we have to question why a governor would want to discourage people from voting. Gov. Susana Martinez has an interest, we would argue, in an engaged public. More people need to vote, not fewer. That includes government workers.

Yet the State Personnel Office declared that the law does not cover municipal elections and denied workers the right to claim their paid leave to vote in the recent Albuquerque mayoral election. Members of the Communication Workers of America Local 7076, which represents certain state employees, sued over the change. They won their case in District Court, and that is the ruling being appealed.

The concern, supposedly, is that those awful state employees abuse the privilege. Workers take their two hours paid leave and head home for a nap, or go shopping or hit the bars. They do not actually vote but still pocket their pay.

After the 2014 election, the State Personnel Office ordered an audit, revealing that 243 employees across 50 government agencies put in for administrative leave to vote but failed to cast a ballot. Those employees should have to pay back those dollars and perhaps face discipline. But cheaters do not constitute a reason to overturn the clear intent of state law.

If the Martinez administration really believes the law is unclear, here’s another solution. Write a better law that makes it clear that workers — private, public or nonprofit — can have two paid hours off to vote. That removes uncertainty and shows the administration’s support for citizen participation, a basic foundation of our democracy.

There might be an argument to be made that paid leave on Election Day proper is no longer essential, considering all the early voting options available (and, yes, the Martinez administration is making it). So rewrite the law and debate the issue, but don’t spend taxpayer time and money on such a petty appeal.

Or, go for real election reform, the kind that could increase voter participation and save the state money spent on nonproductive work hours. Move elections to Saturday, when most people are not at work. Switch to vote-by-mail as is done in Oregon. Put the weight of the state of New Mexico behind greater participation, not in supporting moves designed to make voting less attractive. That is not difficult. Really.