At-large voting is unjust

After listening to the recording of the July 23 Edgewood Council Meeting, I want to go on record objecting to the opinion expressed repeatedly by Councilors Audrey Jaramillo and Sherry Abraham and various members of the public that voting at-large for all five Commission seats is “the will of the people.” It is, in fact, the will of a very vocal subset of the people of Edgewood, many of them CORE organizers and supporters.

I fail to understand how citizens of Districts 2, 3, 4 or 5 having a voice in who represents me in District 1 can be considered just. Don't mistake the absence of vocal feedback on the part of the silent majority of Edgewood's citizens, some of them discouraged by the many months of deadlock that has gripped Council since 2018, as tacit agreement with at-large voting. With respect to citizen claims that voting by District is “voter suppression,” everyone in Edgewood who votes for a school board member votes by District without raising any such complaint. They would probably object vehemently if their representation were instead determined by those living miles away who have different concerns than their own. Please also remember that authority to run municipal elections is given to the County Clerk's and Secretary of State's offices, which would seem to render Councilor Abraham's resolution for at-large voting moot out of the gate. Finally, Council should recognize in all of this that what is ethical is often different from what you may be able to argue is legally feasible. While Councilor Jaramillo announcing her candidacy and soliciting campaign supporters from the dais does not rise to the level of electioneering in New Mexico (it does in several other states), it is certainly poor form and poor judgment. I hope we can let the process of governmental change unfold naturally, as development of the Town did after 1999, and not force this issue for individual ends and those of special interests. Just as Councilor Jaramillo, Councilor Abraham and their family members asserted in signing the CORE petition that led to a referendum which changed our governmental model, these opinions are my own, expressed as a private citizen.

Glenn Felton

Edgewood