Many voters in the 2018 midterm election seemed to make decisions based more out of anger and less on hope.
Is there hope for a well-functioning democracy? We at New Mexico Open Primaries think so. The structure of our campaign and election system directly impacts how many citizens actually vote and how many voices our politicians actually represent.
Open primaries, ranked choice voting, free and fair ballot access, a non-partisan redistricting commission, automatic voter registration, mail-in voting and direct national vote are all reforms that we must work for in the next few years.
New Mexico Open Primaries Board believes that without these reforms there will continue to be grid-lock, hyper-partisanship, voter disengagement and little progress in our state and Nation.
This election cycle, New Mexico Open Primaries Board endorsed independents, Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians who support the kinds of electoral reforms that we need to create competitive elections and greater accountability in our politicians. Many of our endorsed candidates won, though we are sad that State Rep. Jim Dines lost. Jim was respected by adversaries and friends alike and set the standard for honest and ethical behavior in the legislature. We hope State Rep.-Elect Abbas Akhil does the same.
In New Mexico we have a new group of legislators who we believe will want to see a new way of operating. We hope that fresh thinking will encourage our new legislators to support New Mexico Open Primaries’ mission and goals to work towards a healthier campaign and election structure where there is greater voter participation and then greater coalition building among elected officials.
Two takeaways for you today:
1) Please be in touch if you would like to work with us during this upcoming legislative session. We expect success this time.
2) Watch for a major announcement today from our parent organization, Open Primaries, regarding a huge lawsuit to blow open closed primaries here in New Mexico. We hope we will be successful this time.
We have worked hard to get many parties together to run this lawsuit with sufficient funding and expertise.
Thank you.
Bob Perls, Founder and President
New Mexico Open Primaries
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