Comments on the ballot issues

The rhetoric regarding the Charter ballot questions on initiative, referendum and recall is making the changes sound positively draconian!
Let’s look at what the most widely challenged changes actually do.
For Initiatives
1) No change in the percentage of voters needed (so not noted in the ballot question) but a change in the basis for the number of signatures required for initiatives from 15% of voters in the last general election to 15% of the number of voters in the arithmetic mean of the past two general elections. (Election Resolution 12-09, p. 4, New Section 700.2)  For example:
• 15 percent of the 8,846 voters in 2010 = 1,327 (mid-term)•
• 15 percent of the 11,118 voters in 2008 = 1,668 (presidential)
• 15 percent of the mean of 9,982 voters  = 1,497
So if the last general election is a typical presidential election you are better off with the Charter change!
Santa Fe requires 33.3 percent of the voters in the last mayoral election (actual numbers not available at press time).  Albuquerque requires 20 percent of the average of the last four municipal elections.

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