OPINION: NM's municipal elections have become an inconsistent mess

Roswell Mayor Tim Jennings is probably pretty glad the Alien City doesn’t have runoff elections or ranked-choice voting. If it had either, Jennings might not be returning to the Mayor’s Office.

Jennings, a staunch Democrat who served in the New Mexico Senate from 1979 through 2012, was initially elected mayor of Roswell in March 2022 after defeating incumbent Dennis Kintigh by a mere 57 votes, 44% to 43%, in a four-way race.

Kintigh, a former Republican state lawmaker, was seeking a third consecutive term but he had stepped on a few toes along the way, creating an opening for a well-known local Democrat to win the mayor’s race by a hair in Roswell, which I like to think of as the Republican capital of New Mexico.

Municipal elections are technically nonpartisan contests in New Mexico, but that doesn’t necessarily eliminate the partisanship.

Earlier this month, Jennings prevailed again as a Democrat in Roswell, receiving 44.5% of votes cast in the Nov. 4 local election. His challengers, Republicans Christopher Hensley, Larry Clark and Eva Tellez, received 21.4%, 20.5% and 13.6% of the 5,880 total votes cast, respectively.

If Roswell played by the same election rules as Albuquerque, Jennings would be headed toward a runoff election against Hensley because no mayoral candidate reached 50% of votes.

If Roswell played by the same election rules as Santa Fe or Las Cruces, who knows who would have been declared the winner under ranked-choice voting. Clark, the third-place finisher, could conceivably have won under RCV.

Election winners in Roswell and in most other New Mexico municipalities are determined by who gets the most votes — period — the same manner in which New Mexico has determined the winners in all county races for more than 100 years.

So why is it that Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Gallup have runoff elections, Las Cruces and Santa Fe have ranked-choice voting, Albuquerque and Santa Fe have public financing, Clovis and Rio Rancho have voter ID, and Albuquerque and Hobbs have gotten rid of voter ID?

The answers, a former state lawmaker explained to me during a no-obligation consultation last week, are Article VII, Section 5 of the New Mexico Constitution, which was amended by the Legislature in 2003 and ratified by voters in November 2004, and The Local Election Act passed by the Legislature in 2018, when lawmakers sought to consolidate local elections in November of odd-numbered years.

Article VII, Section 5 of the state Constitution allows any municipality to choose runoff elections to determine election winners. Otherwise, the top vote-getter for a particular municipal office wins.

The Local Election Act gives municipalities the choice of runoff elections between the top two vote recipients or ranked-choice voting. Albuquerque and Hobbs had to jettison voter ID when they opted into The Local Election Act.

State law doesn’t mandate or not mandate public financing, but The Local Election Act lays out the process for municipalities to follow if they want to pursue public financing. Public financing local ordinances in Albuquerque and Santa Fe predate The Local Election Act.

Term limits for municipalities were deemed unconstitutional in a 1995 district court case.

Confused yet? I was until my 52-minute no-obligation consultation.

New Mexico’s municipal elections have become an inconsistent mess. Cities have been given too broad of powers, allowing them to structure their elections and local government however they want, short of violating provisions of the state Constitution or state law. The only real backstop is local voters, who must approve amendments to city charters.

I’m not sure how Jennings feels about runoff elections and ranked-choice voting because he didn’t return my calls. But I know how Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller feels about public financing — he likes it. And why wouldn’t he, he’s been the only mayoral candidate to qualify for public financing in the last three elections.

Keller received 36% of votes cast in Nov. 4 election, while second-place finisher Darren White got 31%. That could and should have settled the race. But because a 50% threshold for victory was added via a city charter amendment in 2013, there will be runoffs between Keller and White on Dec. 9, as well as for two City Council seats.

Keller will receive another $377,973 in public financing for his runoff campaign in addition to the $734,000 of tax dollars he received in the initial round. White could not amass 3,780 donations of $5 each in a 64-day window ending June 21, so he didn’t quality for public financing in the initial round and won’t in the runoff.

City Councilor Klarissa Peña, who was publicly financed in the initial round, will also receive public financing in the runoff. Her District 3 opponent, Teresa Garcia, will not because Garcia didn’t qualify for public financing in the initial round.

So now, Albuquerque is preparing to open 50 polling locations on Dec. 9 for three runoff elections. Early voting will take place at 17 polling locations across the city Dec. 1-6. The city had estimated the costs of the runoffs would be between $750,000 and $1.6 million.

Two years ago, a runoff election for a single Albuquerque City Council seat cost taxpayers $558,105.40 to print ballots, open voting convenience centers in Southeast Albuquerque and to pay poll workers. The Dec. 12, 2023, runoff had the same outcome as the initial round, with Nichole Rogers again coming out on top in District 6. Rogers also received an additional $20,000 of public financing for the runoff.

In 2021, it cost the city $375,000 to run two City Council runoff elections to determine the winner of the District 7 and District 9 races.

The Local Election Act of 2018 has been successful consolidating school board and municipal elections. It wasn’t long ago that school board races were held in February, most municipal races were held in March (with Albuquerque holding its election in October), and races for water and soil conservancy districts could be held anytime throughout the year.

But now, municipal elections in Albuquerque are routinely followed by expensive and unnecessary runoffs. Municipal elections statewide have become too disparate and inconsistent.

State lawmakers should take note and rein in local governments that have crafted a patchwork of confusing election laws that are costing taxpayers millions of dollars every cycle. I hope this explainer prods them a little. My brain is sore after writing it.