Midterm reckoning is here — vote today
The final day is upon us — the midterm election 2018 ends now, or at least we hope so. This has been a hard-fought, often unpleasant contest, whether in New Mexico or across the country. Maybe the bickering can end now and the governing begin. That would be a gift to the nation, to be sure.
Of course, governing cannot start until all the votes are counted and races called. As close as so many are — including the contest for the 2nd Congressional District in Southern New Mexico — the election might not be over today after all. In New Mexico, though, we should awaken Wednesday morning and know whether Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham or Republican Steve Pearce is the next governor. We will know the name of our U.S. senator-elect and the winner of at least two House races — for the 1st and the 3rd and maybe the 2nd Congressional Districts — if polling is correct.
With our endless election cycle — the 2020 race for president is starting up — there are several lessons to take away for future contests.
We have seen, whether in the Beto O’Rourke-Ted Cruz contest in Texas for U.S. Senate or in dozens of House races that, yes, candidates can turn down money from special interest political action committees and compete. Some Democratic candidates for Congress even rejected money from labor union PACs — that’s how much they want to return power to small donors and regular people. In some races, there are no big donors, just dollars sent in by ordinary folks. That’s a welcome development.
What we also have observed, however, is the need for the United States to develop standards for how elections are conducted that will stop power plays by local or state officials. Government-sanctioned voter suppression is the underlying story of these midterms.
In North Dakota, Native residents are being blatantly disenfranchised — the state passed a law requiring IDs to vote, with the caveat that only IDs that contain a person’s street address are acceptable. Trouble is, residents on reservations get their mail at post office boxes. Attempts to use the judicial system to allow Indians to vote have fallen short. Rather than sit back, tribes there are working overtime to produce new IDs with the required information. All of this in a state where Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, is defending her seat against GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer. Heitkamp is behind in the polls, but Native voters could keep her competitive — if they can vote.
In other states, secretaries of state have aggressively purged voting rolls, likely removing eligible voters. In Kansas and Georgia, most egregiously, the secretaries of state in charge of the election also are running for governor. Neither candidate, both Republicans, has appeared to be running the elections in an even-handed manner. One post-election reform possibility is changing how the office of secretary of state works across the country, including in New Mexico. Make it nonpartisan, or consider appointing either an individual or a commission to run elections; at the least, discuss how best to keep politics out of supervising elections.
Other reforms in how elections are run are needed across the nation. We need sensible laws and policies that ensure all people who are eligible can vote in a convenient, accessible manner. The country must address extreme gerrymandering of districts so that we return to a government of the majority. We need automatic voter registration; opt out, not in. We also need to safeguard the security of elections and restore people’s trust in how elections work — in Texas, people reported that electric voting machines were not recording votes properly. Such glitches are unacceptable.
Glitches and all, the election is here. Today, everyone who has not voted early will go to the polls, open 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. (Find polling places at www.santafecountynm.gov/clerk). Already, New Mexico voters have done themselves proud, shattering early and absentee voting records. So far, 430,796 people already have voted in this year’s midterm elections. That’s a whopping 34 percent of registered voters who made their decision before Election Day. It’s an increase over past years, from 250,708 in 2014 and 297,768 in 2010.
Whether that signals massive turnout or simply people changing habits, moving from day of election voting to the convenience of voting early we won’t know until the polls close. Who shows up determines who wins, and most importantly, who will govern. That’s why, if you want a say in what happens next, start by casting a vote today.