Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller vetoed the City Council’s proposal to change the city’s voting system Tuesday — saying the measure would “remove a level of accountability our constituents deserve.”
At their last meeting, councilors on a 6-3 vote approved a proposal to put on the November ballot a measure to eliminate the threshold to win an election. This would replace the current majority voting system — which requires a candidate to receive 50% of the total vote to win — with a plurality voting system and eliminate run-off elections.
YES: Dan Champine, Brook Bassan, Dan Lewis, Klarissa Peña, Renée Grout, Louie Sanchez
NO: Tammy Fiebelkorn, Nichole Rogers, Joaquín Baca
The council can override a veto with a majority — five — plus one vote, meaning if councilors vote the same way they did initially, they will have enough votes to override it.
In his statement, Keller said runoff elections are the norm for cities that have nonpartisan ballots and are required to produce a majority winner. He also said plurality voting would give an advantage to incumbent candidates.
“Current efforts nationwide to reform city elections are focused on promoting democracy and civic engagement, not anti-majoritarian policies like the current amendment, which would allow a minority of voters in the city to select our mayor, and a minority of voters in council districts to select city councilors,” Keller wrote.
Hear from councilors and voting rights advocates and learn more about the issue here.
Keller pointed out that in 2013, voters opted to change the then 40% threshold to the current 50%. He said that a mayor or councilor who could serve with 10% of the vote or less makes it challenging to be held accountable to voters and “with more support from voters, elected leaders have a clear mandate to govern.”
While Keller acknowledged that the proposal has received negative feedback — referring to public comments at council meetings and a letter from Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver — he said it “did not receive the appropriate public input and attention it warranted.”
Keller wrote that no election system is perfect, but this proposal “moves Albuquerque in the wrong direction.”
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