Rep. Cristina Parajón, D-Albuquerque

By DANIEL J. CHACÓN
The Santa Fe New Mexican

A bill that would allow some 330,000 unaffiliated voters in New Mexico to participate in primary elections without changing their voter registration to a major party is one step away from becoming law.

Senate Bill 16 headed to the governor’s desk Friday after squeaking by the House of Representatives on a 36-33 vote.

Rep. Cristina Parajón, D-Albuquerque, said the measure seeks to increase voter turnout in the state’s primary elections. Independent voters, or those who decline to state a party affiliation, would no longer have to jump “through the hoops of same-day party registration” to participate in a primary, she said.

“On primary election day, such a voter can request a ballot for one of the parties holding a primary, so essentially what this bill does is it relieves the unnecessary burden on our county clerks,” she said.

Under current law, unaffiliated voters can participate in primaries, but first they have to change their voter registration to a particular party, creating what proponents of the bill described as a bureaucratic hurdle and time-consuming task for election workers. SB 16 would eliminate the same-day registration requirement.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle questioned whether the bill would give one major political party an advantage over another.

“We often have a situation where one party has a close election and the other party doesn’t,” said Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo. “Let’s use 2020. The Republican nominee was President Trump, so not a lot of action going on there, so in that case, wouldn’t a lot of conservative voters drift over to the Democratic primary and try to influence that primary even though they had no intention of ultimately voting for the winner of that primary?”

“It’s certainly a possibility,” responded Parajón, adding the situation could already happen under current law with same-day registration.

McQueen said the proposal would open the door to “strategic voting”.

“A primary is a primary,” he said. “It’s a chance for Democrats to pick their candidate. It’s a chance for Republicans to pick their candidate. It’s a chance for Libertarians to pick their candidate. And we’re muddying up that picture.”

Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, said he keeps jumping off and on the fence on the bill.

“I think it actually might potentially benefit my party in this state,” he said. “In districts that are really tight in Albuquerque  that we’ve lost in many election cycles, I could see the potential for independent voters who do not like either party getting radicalized, so to speak, by either side to vote for the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate in certain races.”

Asked whether Republicans could benefit from the change in “tight districts”, Parajón said other states with semi-open primaries, which she described as politically diverse, haven’t had that experience.

“In fact, most states have completely open primaries where you just get a ballot and you pick who you want to pick; there’s no affiliation,” she said. “We are one of 10 states that has closed primaries.” 

Block ultimately ended up voting against the bill.

So did Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, whose position was resolute.

“In the past I’ve looked at this, and I’ve made the philosophical decision that I think that each party should be able to pick their own candidates,” he said.

Now, it’s in the governor’s hands.