By BOB PERLS
Registered declined-to-state voter
Former State Representative and former U.S. Diplomat
Founder of New Mexico Open Elections
Currently in Los Alamos, 28% of registered voters are independent (declined to state/DTS). While everyone has different reasons to register as such, a majority of this population is employed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory and leans toward neutrality regarding politics in the workplace.
Our current primary elections exclude nearly a third of Los Alamos voters from participating by forcing them to change their voter registration in order to vote in the primary. This is coercive and an invasion of privacy.
With the polarization and anger in our politics, no one should have to disclose how they are registered in order to vote, yet with our closed primary system in New Mexico, that is exactly what a third of Los Alamos voters must do.
Senate Bill 73, sponsored by State Senators O’Neill and Hemphill and State Representatives Hochman-Vigil and Figueroa, will allow independent and minor party registered voters to participate in primary elections without having to change their registration. It is close to passing and being signed into law!
This open primary bill made it all the way through the Senate, through one committee in the House and in the next few days will be in the House Judiciary Committee. Your representative, Christine Chandler, is the committee chair, and so far has voted against this type of bill. I think it is because she has not heard from you.
Last month, the House Judiciary Committee killed HB 54, an identical bill, and Chairwoman Chandler voted with the majority. This same committee has killed every open primaries bill presented since 2016.
If you care that public tax dollars are used to pay for primary elections, but over 325,000 New Mexicans can’t vote in them, let her know: christine.chandler@nmlegis.gov, (505)-986-4411.
If you care that disclosure of your political party preference is required to fulfill a fundamental right in our democracy, let her know.
If you care that New Mexicans who choose not to affiliate with a major political party are not only many LANL employees, but also include 50% of veterans, 60% of young people, and 40% of communities of color, then let her know.
As the loudest voices in each major party become more and more extreme, moderates feel increasingly like the political insiders don’t want to listen to them. Supporting open primaries isn’t just a way to grant them access on principle–it’s a way to get their vote, by telling them that politicians do want their voice, for more than just one November day each year.