Newspaper Misinformed on At-large VotingThe following was written by Karen Kiser and first appeared on Eye of Edgewood (July 1 2021)
“Whether the town’s five commissioners, representing the town’s five freshly created districts, will be elected at-large in the special election—meaning commissioners would be elected by all voters regardless of the district they reside in, or as single-member districts, wherein candidates would live within their respective districts— remains undecided.”
The above line from the most recent edition of The Independent contains material misstatements of fact regarding what the Edgewood Council is debating, as well as what 130+ Edgewood residents emailed them about. There were also over 20 callers speaking on the same issue at the most recent Edgewood Town Council Meeting.
#1: Edgewood residents want the right to vote for ALL FIVE COMMISSIONERS who will create the new governing body of their Town.
#2: this will not be a “Special Election,” but rather a regular municipal election which occurs in November of odd #d years as required by NM’s Local Election Act into which Edgewood opted.
#3: It has already been determined that Commission candidates will run from the respective District in which they reside. Your article confuses how Comissioner candidates will RUN versus how Edgewood residents will VOTE. No one is debating how Commission candidates will run. The issue is how will Edgewood residents vote, for all five Commissioners or only one.
Abrams has expressed a desire to limit voting rights of Edgewood residents to voting for only ONE Commission in their respective District. NM law clearly allows for “Voting at Large” or voting for all FIVE Commissioners until Edgewood’s population exceeds 10,000. Similarly sized NM Towns vote for all candidates so there exists a precedent that this is both legal and constitutional. Abrams’ and Holle’s delays are just that, delays. It will take an affirmative action of the Governing Body to limit the voting rights of Edgewood residents to one vote versus voting for all five Commissioners. Voting At Large (for all 5) is the default position as evidenced by current practice in other small Towns in NM and the plain language of the NM Local Election Act.
A relevant missing component of the article is the fact that the NM Secretary of State is the chief election officer for our state, not the Attorney General for whom Abrams allegedly waits. An interview with Santa Fe County Election Clerk, Katherine Clark, would also be relevant and appropriate to tell the accurate, full story. Ms. Clark has made it clear she will move forward and prepare for our November 2, 2021, Municipal Election of five Commissioners and one Municipal Judge, with or without additional guidance from our Governing Body under the direction of the NM Secretary of State.
There is no good reason to limit the voting rights of Edgewood residents. This determination will affect Edgewood until 2030, possibly 2040, since only Census data will be used to determine when our population exceeds 10,000. Once it does, we will be legally limited to one vote for only one Commissioner in our respective Districts. Until then Edgewood residents demanded their legal right to vote for all five Commissioners.
Karen Kiser
