The Voters of Santa Fe, New Mexico, have an important election ahead of them on the 4th of March. I urge them to back two ballot measures in that election, Amendment 4 and Charter Amendment 5.
Amendment 4 allows for the public financing of campaigns in city elections. Even in a relatively small city like Santa Fe, races are becoming more expensive and taking the dollars of special interests and lobbyists out of the equation is the single best way to keep politicians honest and working for the people. This Amendment has the formal backing of the Santa Fe New Mexican, the American Association of Retired Persons, Common Cause New Mexico, the League of Women Voters of New Mexico, Voting Matters, and the Center for Civic Action.
Charter Amendment 5 would institute so-called "ranked choice voting" in future Santa Fe elections. Like many places, many if not most Santa Fe races are decided by less than a majority of voters. This is not democracy in action. Ranked choice voting allows a voter to rank candidates in order of their preference. Then, a counting process is used that insures that the winner of every race is selected by a majority of the voters. To see an explanation with a diagram of how the process works, follow this link. The organization Voting Matters has a web site up for this amendment and notes its backers as well.
These are honestly steps that we should be taking across the nation at both the state and national levels. Instituting them here in Santa Fe is a start.
Make sure that you vote next Tuesday and please vote in favor of Amendment 4 and Charter Amendment 5. Thank you.
29 February 2008
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