Los Alamos County Clerk Michael Redondo certifies voting machines Tuesday at the Municipal Building in preparation for the June 2 Primary Election. This year’s primary election will be different from previous ones because the state legislature passed a bill allowing unaffiliated voters to participate in the primary without changing their voter registration. A third party observed the certification process, Carmen Lopez from Observe New Mexico Elections. Lopez explained that observing the certification process is important because it helps people learn how elections work and helps to build public confidence in election outcomes when elections are run well. ‘We train hundreds of volunteers from across the state about the details of how different election processes work, and then observers complete their structured checklists at their local polling location or local elections process,’ she said. ‘We then aggregate all of that data and issue an annual report detailing the specifics of how elections work and what could work better. Because New Mexico’s elections are run well, this process builds trust in the election process and also helps to improve the election process.’ Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com 

By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

Before Senate Bill 16 was passed last year, voters registered in unaffiliated parties had to wait until Nov. 3 to cast their ballot or to participate in primary elections; they needed to change their voter registration to a major party. That’s all changed.

With the June 2 primary approaching, unaffiliated voters in New Mexico are now able to participate in it without changing their voter registration to a major party.

Los Alamos County Clerk Michael Redondo explained that the idea of a semi-open primary has been discussed multiple times at the state level. It has been a popular idea, he added.

“It’s definitely popular amongst people who don’t want to be registered with a party for any particular reason but want to have more opportunity to participate in the process,” Redondo said.

He added that Los Alamos does have a large percentage of unaffiliated voters so this will be a benefit for them.

“Los Alamos has a higher percentage of voters that are not in a major party than most other counties,” Redondo said. “There are a lot of people who work at the lab who don’t want to associate with a party for various reasons but still want to participate. This gives them an opportunity to participate but not be affiliated with a party.”

The easiest way to take advantage of the semi-open primary is to visit NMVote.org.

Those who are registered in a major party, Democrat or Republican, can vote in their party’s primary election. Members of both parties can change their affiliation or decline to state by May 5. If a voter is registered in a qualified minor party, Libertarian or Green Party, they would need to register with a major party by May 5. They can also decline to state through same day voter registration up to or including election day. If a voter has declined to state or is registered with an unqualified minor party such as Workers Now, the Socialist Party, the Constitutional Party or the Communist Party, they can select a major party’s ballot and vote in the primary election without changing their voter registration.

The whole goal, Redondo said, is to increase voter participation. Although Los Alamos already performs well in that area.

He reported that during presidential elections, voter turnout has been as high as 80 percent. Even during last year’s school board election, turnout was 26 percent, which Redondo said was decent for a local school board election. For this year’s mid-term election, Redondo said he predicts turnout will be from 75 to 80 percent.
“We tend to have some of the highest turnout,” he said. “We participate here. Our turnout is generally pretty good.”

Nationwide, elections are weathering storms of fraud and integrity accusations. Redondo said while having semi-open primaries will not directly shield New Mexico or Los Alamos from the issues facing elections, there is power in allowing more people to take part in the voting process.

“It has tangential effect in that the more people you include in the process, the more confidence people have,” he said.