Electoral systems in New Mexico
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The term electoral system can refer to the method by which elections are conducted (e.g., whether officials are elected in single-winner versus multi-winner systems) or the method by which votes are tallied to determine the outcome of an election (e.g., plurality systems, majority systems, ranked-choice voting systems, etc.). In the United States, most federal and state-level officials are elected via plurality vote in single-winner contests, although some jurisdictions (e.g., cities, school boards, etc.) employ alternative electoral systems.
See the sections below for additional information on the following topics:
- Background: This section defines and describes methods for conducting elections, including single-winner systems and multi-winner systems. This section also defines and describes various vote-tallying methods, including plurality voting, majority voting, ranked-choice voting, block voting, single voting, and cumulative voting.
- Electoral systems used in New Mexico: This section outlines the electoral systems used in federal elections (i.e., elections for president and United States senators and representatives) and state-level contests (i.e., elections for state legislators, governors, and other state executives).
- Noteworthy events: This section summarizes noteworthy events relevant to electoral systems in New Mexico.
- State legislation and ballot measures: This section lists state legislation and state and local ballot measures relevant to electoral systems policy.
Background
The term electoral system can refer to two distinct, yet related, concepts: the method for conducting elections and the method for tallying votes to determine electoral outcomes.
Methods for conducting elections
Generally speaking, elections can take one of two basic forms: single-winner or multi-winner. In a single-winner election, one candidate alone can be elected to the office in question. In a multi-winner election, by contrast, multiple candidates can be elected to the same office.[1][2]
- A single-winner system is one in which one candidate is elected for an office. Elections for the presidency of the United States are single-winner contests; because the United States Constitution provides for a single chief executive, no more than one person can serve in that capacity at any given moment. Elections for the United States House of Representatives are also single-winner contests, as each district is permitted to elect a single representative.[1][2]
- A multi-winner system is one in which multiple candidates are elected to an office. Elections for at-large city council seats are sometimes multi-winner contests. For example, there may be three at-large council seats up for election in a given year. In some of these elections, voters are asked to select up to three choices on their ballots. The top three vote-getters win election to the at-large seats. Some state legislative chambers in the United States use multi-member districts, which elect multiple members. Proportional representation systems are a specific class of multi-winner systems in which offices are allocated to candidates or political parties in proportion to their share of the total vote.[1][2][3]
Methods for tallying votes to determine electoral outcomes
Single-winner system methods
Vote-tallying methods for single-winner election systems include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Plurality voting system: In plurality systems, the candidate who wins the largest share of the vote wins the election. The candidate need not win an outright majority to be elected. These systems are sometimes referred to as first-past-the-post or winner-take-all.[1][3]
- Majority voting system: In majority systems, a candidate must win at least 50 percent of the vote in order to win the election. In the event that no candidate wins an outright majority, a runoff election is held between the top two vote-getters. For this reason, majority systems are sometimes referred to as two-round systems.[1][3]
- Single-winner ranked-choice voting system: In a single-winner ranked-choice voting system, voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. Votes cast for the eliminated candidate are transferred to second-preference choices (if a ballot lists only the eliminated candidate, the vote is considered exhausted and is removed from future tallies). A new tally is conducted to determine whether any remaining candidate has won a majority of the remaining votes. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority. This system is sometimes referred to as an instant-runoff system.[1][4]
Multi-winner system methods
Vote-tallying methods for multi-winner election systems include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Block voting system: In a block voting system, a voter can select as many candidates as there are open seats. The candidates with the greatest number of votes are elected. If, for example, there are three at-large city council seats up for election and six candidates for those seats, the top three vote-getters would win election to those seats.[1]
- Single voting system: In a single voting system, each voter can select one candidate, regardless of the number of open seats. The candidates with the greatest number of votes are elected (for example, if there are three open seats, the three candidates with the greatest number of votes will win the election).[1]
- Cumulative voting: In a cumulative voting system, each voter can cast a number of votes equal to the number of seats up for election. A voter can allocate all of these votes to a single candidate or distribute them among several candidates. If, for example, there are three city council seats up for election, a voter can cast all three of those votes for a single candidate or split them among the three candidates (e.g., casting two votes for one candidate and one for another, etc.). The candidates with the highest number of votes win.[1]
Electoral systems used in New Mexico
The states have the authority to determine which electoral systems they will use in contests for state-level offices. The systems used in contests for federal office must adhere to federal constitutional guidelines, as well as applicable state laws.
Federal elections
Article II, Section 1, of the United States Constitution provides that the President of the United States is elected by the Electoral College via majority vote in a single-winner contest. Of the 50 states, all but two award all of their presidential electors to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in the state (Maine and Nebraska each award two of their electors to the candidate who wins a plurality of the statewide vote; the remaining electors are allocated to the winners of the plurality vote in the states' congressional districts).[5]
Article I, Section 4, of the United States Constitution grants the states the authority to determine the rules by which they elect their United States Senators and Representatives, unless the United States Congress acts to change those rules:[6]
| “ | The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.[7] | ” |
| —Article I, Section 4, of the United States Constitution | ||
Article I and the Seventeenth Amendment of the United States Constitution establish that each state selects two United States Senators in staggered elections. In 1967, the United States Congress passed a law requiring that each state establish single-winner districts and exclusively elect their United States Representatives from those districts. Consequently, in every state, United States Senators and United States Representatives are elected in single-winner contests. A majority of states determine winners in these contests via plurality vote. In New Mexico, winners in congressional contests are determined by plurality vote.[8][9]
State-level elections
All elective state executive officers (e.g., governors, secretaries of state, treasurers, etc.) in the United States are selected via single-winner contests. A total of 40 states conduct only single-winner contests for their state legislative elections. The 10 remaining states conduct multi-winner contests for some state legislative seats: Arizona, Idaho, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. Plurality counts are generally used to determine electoral outcomes, though some states and jurisdictions use other tabulation methods (for example, Louisiana employs a majority voting/two-round system in which a runoff general election is held if no candidate for congressional or state-level office wins a majority of the vote in the first round of voting).[8]
The table below details the electoral systems used in New Mexico for state legislative and state executive offices as of July 2017.
| Electoral systems for state-level offices in New Mexico | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Office | Single-winner or multi-winner | Vote tabulation method | |
| State legislators (representatives and senators) | Single-winner[10] | Plurality[9] | |
| State executive officials (governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, auditor, and commissioner of public lands) | Single-winner[11] | Plurality[12] | |
Noteworthy events
Las Cruces (2018)
On June 4, 2018, the Las Cruces City Council voted unanimously to adopt ranked-choice voting for municipal elections beginning in November 2019. A 40 percent share of the vote will be required for a candidate to win election to an office, in keeping with the city's previous electoral system, which required a runoff election in the event that no candidate for a given office won 40 percent of the vote cast for that office.[13]
Santa Fe (2017-2018)
On August 30, 2017, a group filed suit in the New Mexico Supreme Court against the Santa Fe City Council and mayor, requesting that the court order city officials to implement ranked-choice voting (RCV) beginning with the 2018 municipal election cycle. Santa Fe citizens adopted RCV for municipal elections via a 2008 city charter amendment. The plaintiffs in the suit—including Maria Perez, director of FairVote New Mexico, and Santa Fe residents Craig O’Hare, Ellen Ackerman, and Anne Noss—argued that the city's voting machines had met the requirements set forth in the charter amendment and that RCV software had been offered to the city at no cost by the New Mexico secretary of state. In the petition filed with the state supreme court, the plaintiffs' attorneys stated, "Using RCV is not discretionary. The city council cannot delay its implementation once the software is available at a reasonable cost." City officials countered that the prerequisites for implementation had not yet been met. After the council voted in July 2017 to delay implementation of RCV, former city council member Karen Heldmeyer said, "What people present as a very simple idea is in fact very complicated in its execution. On September 21, 2017, a three-justice panel of the state supreme court voted unanimously to reject the plaintiffs' request.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]
On September 29, 2017, the plaintiffs refiled their suit. On November 9, 2017, Judge David Thomson ordered city officials "to implement the ranked-choice system or show why it should not have to do so at a hearing scheduled for Nov. 21." On November 29, 2017, Thomson ordered city officials to implement RCV beginning with the city's 2018 election cycle. Perez applauded the ruling: "I think that Judge Thomson's decision is a victory for the voters of Santa Fe, who have been waiting for this for almost 10 years. It's also a victory for democracy in New Mexico." City Councilor Ron Trujillo expressed some concerns about preparing an adequate voter education program in advance of the 2018 elections: "You can say you like it, you can say you don’t like it, but you have to know how it works. If some people think this is too complicated, they might just say, ‘I’m not going to vote.’ … That outreach has got to be huge."[22][23][24][25]
On December 4, 2017, the Santa Fe City Council voted unanimously to implement RCV in the city's March 2018 municipal elections, complying with Thomson's November 29 order. The council also voted 5-4 to appeal that order to the state supreme court. The city's appeal pivots on two questions: whether the state judge who issued the implementation order acted outside his authority, and whether ranked-choice voting is in compliance with the state constitution. City Councilor Joseph Maestas, who voted against appealing the order to the state supreme court, said, "Each individual track [i.e., pursuing both implementation and appeal simultaneously] is in conflict with the other. I'm concerned about injecting confusion into the minds of the voters." Trujillo, who voted in favor of appealing, said that it was necessary to address the constitutionality of RCV: "Once we get a definitive answer on this, then we don't ever have to worry about it again."[26]
On December 20, 2017, the Santa Fe City Council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance establishing procedures for ranked-choice voting in the city. Under the ordinance, a majority will be defined as 50 percent plus one of all votes cast for candidates who have not been eliminated in earlier rounds of voting (as opposed to a majority of all votes cast). The council also approved two separate ballot designs, one organized horizontally and one organized vertically; the vertical ballot design was adopted in the event that the horizontal design proves incompatible with existing voting software. A voter education website (accessible here) was launched on December 21, 2017.[27]
On January 9, 2018, a three-judge panel of the New Mexico Supreme Court rejected the city's appeal of Thomson's order, allowing for implementation of ranked-choice voting in March 2018. The panel, which comprised Justices Edward Chávez, Charles Daniels, and Barbara Vigil, ruled unanimously in rejecting the challenge. Perez said, "Now we can really concentrate on implementing this right. We can clear the cloud behind all of it and move forward, 100 percent, full steam ahead with a successful implementation and election." City spokesman Matt Ross said, "This is a disappointment. We hoped the Supreme Court would clarify the constitutional and separation of powers questions before them. While we have an order, we don't have a written explanation resolving any post-election challenge that may arise."[28][29]
State legislation and ballot measures
The table below lists bills related to electoral systems that have been introduced during (or carried over to) the current legislative session in New Mexico. The following information is included for each bill:
- State
- Bill number
- Official name or caption
- Most recent action date
- Legislative status
- Topics dealt with by the bill
Bills are organized alphabetically, first by state and then by bill number. The table displays up to 100 results by default. To view additional results, use the arrows in the upper-right corner of the table. For more information about a particular bill, click the bill number. This will open a separate page with additional information.
Electoral systems ballot measures
Ballotpedia has tracked no ballot measures relating to electoral systems in New Mexico.
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See also
Select a state on the map below to read more about electoral systems in that state.
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 FairVote, "Electoral Systems," accessed July 7, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 International Political Science Review, "Choosing Electoral Systems: Proportional, Majoritarian and Mixed Systems," July 1997
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Georgetown University, "Electoral Systems," accessed July 7, 2017
- ↑ MinneapolisMN.gov, "Frequently Asked Questions about Ranked-Choice Voting," accessed July 7, 2017
- ↑ United States Constitution, "Article II, Section 1," accessed July 7, 2017
- ↑ United States Constitution, "Article I, Section 4," accessed July 7, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 FairVote, "Electoral Systems in the United States," accessed July 7, 2017
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 New Mexico Statutes, "1-14-18," accessed July 25, 2017
- ↑ New Mexico Constitution, "Article IV, Section 3," accessed July 25, 2017
- ↑ New Mexico Constitution, "Article V, Section 1," accessed July 25, 2017
- ↑ New Mexico Constitution, "Article V, Section 2," accessed July 25, 2017
- ↑ Las Cruces Sun News, "Las Cruces City Council adopts ranked-choice voting," June 4, 2018
- ↑ FairVote, "Santa Fe Voters File Lawsuit in Support of Ranked Choice Voting," August 30, 2017
- ↑ Albuquerque Journal, "Supporters still hope for ranked-choice voting for Santa Fe’s 2018 elections," July 7, 2017
- ↑ Albuquerque Journal, "Fight over ranked-choice voting hits state Supreme Court," August 30, 2017
- ↑ Santa Fe New Mexican, "FairVote New Mexico sues city in effort to get ranked-choice voting," August 30, 2017
- ↑ Ballot Access News, "New Mexico Supreme Court Asks for a Response in Lawsuit Over Ranked Choice Voting in Santa Fe," September 7, 2017
- ↑ Santa Fe New Mexican, "City attorney argues Santa Fe not prepared for new voting system," September 15, 2017
- ↑ Albuquerque Journal, "Santa Fe responds to ‘instant runoff’ petition," September 16, 2017
- ↑ Santa Fe New Mexican, "High court rejects petition to force ranked-choice voting in March," September 21, 2017
- ↑ Santa Fe New Mexican, "Ranked-choice petition heads to District Court," September 29, 2017
- ↑ Santa Fe New Mexican, "New to case, another district judge issues order on ranked-choice voting," November 9, 2017
- ↑ Albuquerque Journal, "Santa Fe ordered to implement ranked-choice voting," November 29, 2017
- ↑ Santa Fe New Mexican, "Judge rules city must use ranked-choice voting system in March election," November 29, 2017
- ↑ Santa Fe New Mexican, "City to pursue dual track on ranked-choice voting," December 4, 2017
- ↑ Santa Fe New Mexican, "Santa Fe City Council sets rules for ranked-choice voting," December 20, 2017
- ↑ Santa Fe New Mexican, "Court clears way for ranked-choice voting in city election," January 9, 2018
- ↑ Supreme Court of the State of New Mexico, "City of Santa Fe v. Thomson and State of New Mexico, ex rel.: Order," January 9, 2018
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