1-8-19. Candidacy in primary of one party bars general election ballot designation of different party or as an unaffiliated candidate.
If a person has been a candidate for the nomination of a major political party in the primary election, he shall not have his name printed on the ballot at the next succeeding general election except under the party name of the party designated on his declaration of candidacy filed for such primary election.
While the modified system tends to provide for “party unity” at the general election, it limits or otherwise dilutes the practical influences of divergent groups in the general election. Some of the divergent groups may be small in number; they can also be very recognizable. In several recent elections, the absence of these divergent groups has significantly affected the outcome of statewide elections.
The recent history of the Green Party of New Mexico displays the disqualification of a minor party under color of statutes. The Green Party was founded in 1994. The candidate for Governor, Roberto Mondragon, left the Democrats after losing the primary to governor Bruce King. As a result of the outcome of the general election, the Green Party had become the first 3rd ‘major party” as defined under the Election code:
1-7-2 Qualification; Removal; requalification .
A. To qualify as a political party in New Mexico, each political party through its governing body shall adopt rules and regulations providing for the organization and government of that party and shall file the rules and regulations with the secretary of state. Uniform rules and regulations shall be adopted throughout the state by the county organizations of that party, where a county organization exists, and shall be filed with the county clerks. At the same time the rules and regulations are filed with the secretary of state, the governing body of the political party shall also file with the secretary of state a petition containing the hand-printed names, signatures, addresses of residence and counties of residence of at least one-half of one percent of the total votes cast for the office of governor or president at the preceding general election who declare by their signatures on such petition that they are voters of New Mexico and that they desire the party to be a qualified political party in New Mexico.
B. Each county political party organization may adopt such supplementary rules and regulations insofar as they do not conflict with the uniform state rules and regulations or do not abridge the lawful political rights of any person. Such supplementary rules shall be filed with the county clerk and the secretary of state in the same manner as other rules are filed.
C. All political parties that appeared on the 1988 New Mexico general election ballot shall continue to be qualified political parties unless disqualified in accordance with this subsection. Beginning with the general election in 1990, a qualified political party shall cease to be qualified for the purposes of the Election Code [1-1-1 NMSA 1978] if two successive general elections are held without at least one of the party’s candidates on the ballot or if the total votes cast for the party’s candidates for governor or president of the United States, provided that the party has a candidate seeking election to either of these offices, in a general election do not equal at least one-half of one percent of the total votes cast for the office of governor or president of the United States, as applicable. After giving notice by registered mail to the state chairman of the party at his last known address, the secretary of state shall remove all material dealing with the political party from his file of parties qualified in New Mexico.
D. The secretary of state shall then notify all county clerks of the removal and no qualification of the political party. The county clerk is then authorized to remove such rules and regulations from the county files. The county clerk shall immediately notify by mail all voters registered as members of such party of the removal and nonqualification of the party.
E. To requalify, the party must again comply with the provisions of the Election Code dealing with filing requirements for political parties.
In 1996, the status obtained by the Green Party of New Mexico continued as a “major party." The National presidential candidacy of Ralph Nader polled over the disqualifying threshold of one half of one percent of the total votes cast. An Attorney General opinion provided that “a major party is a qualified political party “if any of whose candidates received the minimum votes.” (NMAG opinion 96-01) In 1998, the Green Party of New Mexico did not field a candidate for governor, but it did have a slate of candidates which polled enough to retain “major party status.”
In 2000, The Green party of New Mexico fielded a Presidential candidate and a slate of other candidates.
The results of the 2000 Presidential voting in New Mexico was:
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
RALPH NADER / WINONA LA DUKE, GREEN, 21,251- 4%
AL GORE / JOE LIEBERMAN, DEMOCRAT, 286,783- 48%
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