It’s time for open primaries in New Mexico
Primary election season is an exciting time in New Mexico. County clerks are hard at work making sure their voting locations are ready for the waves of voters eager to cast their ballot. My staffers are tying up loose ends to make sure everything runs smoothly on election day.
In many ways, New Mexico’s primary election is a great example of the power of American democracy. However, there is one change we could make that would significantly improve the electoral process for all New Mexico voters — a switch to an open primary system.
Under New Mexico law, voters may only participate in a primary election if they register to vote with one of the state’s three major political parties — Democratic, Libertarian or Republican — at least 28 days prior to primary election day.
To understand why this is such a real problem, we need to take a closer look at our current voter registration data.
Of the 1,233,513 individuals registered to vote in New Mexico, 950,032 are affiliated with one of the three major political parties. The other 283,481 voters either chose not to be affiliated with any political party or registered with one of the state’s many minor parties. That means about 23 percent of all New Mexico voters will be forced to watch from the sidelines during this primary election.
It’s difficult to say that we have a fair and equal voting process when a large segment of the voting population isn’t allowed to have a say in who the general election candidates will be.
I support moving to an open primary system here in New Mexico.
In particular, I support a modified open primary model that would allow independent and minor-party voters to choose one major political party’s ballot to mark in a primary election. Democrats would still vote in the Democratic primary, Republicans would still vote in the Republican primary and Libertarians would still vote in the Libertarian primary. The only change? Every independent and minor party voter would choose one primary major party ballot to cast their vote.
This version of the open primary guarantees every voter has the same opportunity to make his or her voice heard.
Some opponents of open primaries worry that independent or minor party voters might try to flood one party’s primary to game the system against particular candidates. But these fears are unfounded when you consider that independent and minor party voters could already do this in the current system by registering to vote in large numbers with one of the major parties before the primary election. The reality is that just doesn’t happen.
The benefits are obvious. Open primaries contribute to a healthy democracy by forcing candidates to listen to all voters, rather than a select few. In these polarized times, we would all benefit from a more open political dialogue that includes a wider variety of voices and from campaigns working to garner support from a broader spectrum of voters.
I’m going to push for an open primary system here in New Mexico, but I can’t do it alone. We need our lawmakers to pass legislation creating an open primary system that makes sense for New Mexico’s voters and we need a governor who will sign it into law.
I’ll do my part by continuing to work with good government advocacy groups — like New Mexico Open Primaries — leading up to and during next year’s legislative session to find enough lawmakers to champion the cause and get the job done.
Our democracy is at its strongest when we maximize the number of voters who participate in the electoral process. Unfortunately, countless New Mexico voters have been left out due to an outdated primary election system that counts certain voters but not others.
That’s unacceptable, so let’s change the system together.