Election reforms drowned by filibuster
Santa Fe New Mexican – It was past 1 a.m. Thursday when state Sen. Cliff Pirtle made his move. With less than 11 hours remaining in this year’s legislative session, he knew just how to freeze a government that was already in slow motion.
Pirtle, R-Roswell, announced a “call of the Senate.” This meant all 42 senators were required to be in the chamber. Unless everyone was present, a long-winded debate could not continue on a bill to reform various election laws.
Democrats favored the bill, but Pirtle’s tactical maneuver meant trouble for them.
Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, had gone home. She would have to be located and brought back to Santa Fe or the bill would be left in limbo.
“I think [Senate Majority Leader] Peter Wirth made the right decision. He didn’t send the state police to get Senator Lopez,” said the bill sponsor, Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto.
Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, never got the chance to revive the election measure, House Bill 229.
After the Senate reassembled at about 9 a.m., Republicans employed a new strategy to stop the bill.
Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, got the floor and babbled for two hours during debate on an unrelated proposal.
Sharer’s filibuster devoured enough time to kill the reform measure. It was never reconsidered, and the legislative session ended at noon.
Democrats have only themselves to blame.
Lopez’s exit during a key part of the session opened the way for minority Republicans to strangle a bill that would have tightened security on absentee voting and added a felony penalty for fraud.
The Republican floor leader, Sen. Stuart Ingle of Portales, had voted for the election reforms in the Rules Committee. His stand contradicted that of state Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce.
Pearce had railed against the bill for days. He claimed it deleted identification requirements for absentee voters and would have created opportunities for election fraud.
None of this was true. But, for partisan reasons, Pearce has been outspoken about the bill weakening the republic. Ingle either hadn’t read Pearce’s messages or ignored them in a show of independence.
Pearce’s interest in the bill was personal. His pal, fellow Republican Yvette Herrell, lost the 2018 election in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District after the absentee ballots were counted.
Herrell did not contest the election. She knew she’d lost it.
But she’s again running for Congress, and now she has a different story. Her advertising is built around the claim that Democrats stole the election from her.
Pearce kept alive the theme of Democrats condoning election fraud. He claimed Ivey-Soto’s bill would create an absentee voting system that would enable vote thieves to thrive.
Key officials supported the bill Pearce denigrated.
Twenty-two of 26 county clerks who took a position favored the election reforms. Pearce, though, had the louder voice for his misinformation campaign.
With the session droning toward a close, not every Democrat in the Senate was invested in the election bill.
Sen. Clemente Sanchez, D-Grants, told me he wasn’t annoyed by Sharer’s filibuster. The state budget had been crafted. That was the main business of the session. With the critical work done, it was time to go home, Sanchez said.
Sanchez, usually the best-dressed senator in his natty suits and splashy neckwear, donned blue jeans, a sport coat and black cowboy boots for the final hours. His casual fashion statement was a sign that he didn’t intend to debate anyone.
Ivey-Soto was in no such mood. He rose and made procedural arguments to try to cut off Sharer.
Ingle, who’s been in the Senate since 1985, said he had never seen such an attempted power grab as the one Ivey-Soto pursued.
Sen. Mark Moores and other Republicans complained the decorum of the Senate was at stake. They said Democrats trying to silence Sharer were acting like those street fighters who wage combat in the state House of Representatives.
Senate Democrats lost the skirmish. They had no lawful way to end Sharer’s filibuster.
Wirth gave the floor back to Sharer, who proceeded to assault human ears and run down the clock.
That was the end of the bill for election reforms. And it was the end of 30 days at the Capitol. Now it’s election season. All 112 legislative seats are on the ballot this year.
Incumbents who are running again will say it was a successful session with many notable accomplishments. Oh, sure, they might add, it’s not always easy to watch the sausage being made.
The truth is harsher.
A bill to tighten election security had a chance to be approved. Instead, a weaker system will be in place when you vote.
Source: US Government Class
