Ranked choice voting defeated in Albuquerque - Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
The Albuquerque City Council killed a proposal Monday night to use ranked choice voting for municipal elections.
Proponents argued that this process would save millions of taxpayer dollars. Meanwhile, opponents said that the new system would confuse voters and that most were not educated enough to research and rank multiple candidates.
Ranked choice voting is already used in municipalities across the country, including locally in Santa Fe and Las Cruces.
“I’m not calling people dumb or confused,” said Councilor Dan Lewis.
Instead, Lewis argued that the ranked choice system itself is confusing. Lewis pointed to Santa Fe, where even years after implementation, some voters are still unclear on the process.
Ultimately, the measure was voted down Monday on a 6-3 vote.
Lewis and fellow city councilors Dan Champine, Brooke Bassan, Renée Grout, Joaquín Baca and Council President Klarissa Peña voted against the ordinance. Councilors Nichole Rogers, Tammy Fiebelkorn and Stephanie Telles voted in favor of ranked choice voting.
How it works
In the current system, citizens vote for one candidate and must return to the polls if neither candidate wins at least 50%. If adopted, ranked choice voting would enact this process instantaneously.
If no candidate receives 50% of the first-choice votes, the least popular candidate is eliminated. Voters who chose that eliminated candidate would have their vote transferred to the tally of their second-choice candidate.
This continues until one candidate receives a decisive majority vote, effectively eliminating the need for a runoff election.
For and against
Political blogger Paul Gessing told councilors that the ranked choice voting was “too confusing.”
“Not all (voters) are attending city council meetings,” Gessing said. “They don't all have their top five candidates or six candidates listed out and are not able to necessarily do the research for that.”
Gessing suggested that the city should instead eliminate runoff elections by returning to a plurality. The current system requires one candidate to receive at least 50% of the vote; otherwise, a runoff is triggered between the top two vote recipients.
Supporters, including school teachers, refuted Gessing, saying that ranked choice voting is used and understood by children to choose elective classes and vote in class elections.
“Surely you don’t consider Burqueños less capable of understanding than a 5-year-old,” said public commenter Kristen Cummings.
Supporters also argued that ranked choice voting is fiscally responsible and would encourage higher voter turnout.
Leadership at the county agreed with supporters.
According to Bernalillo County Clerk Michelle Kavanaugh, ranked choice voting could save taxpayers millions by eliminating runoff elections.
Last year, the city spent $1.8 million to host a runoff election for the mayoral and city council races, Kavanaugh said. At a minimum, runoff elections cost the city around $500,000, Kavanaugh said.
Kavanaugh also assured councilors that the county, which is responsible for coordinating the election, was ready to implement ranked choice voting.
“Now’s the time,” Kavanaugh said during public comment.
Despite the failed vote, Fiebelkorn said she sees ranked choice as an inevitability and that eventually the City Council will have to catch up.
“This is coming,” Fiebelkorn said.
As her tenure nears end, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signs off on hefty salary increases for staffers - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
As Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham nears the final months of her tenure as New Mexico’s chief executive, she has doled out another round of hefty salary increases for top Governor’s Office staffers.
The pay raises for more than 20 employees — approved last month — range from less than 1% to more than 16% in at least one instance, according to state personnel data.
In any case, most of the approved pay raises are far larger than the 1% salary increases most state workers will receive in July, after being included in a $11.1 billion budget bill signed by the governor last month.
A Lujan Grisham spokesman said Monday the governor feels it’s important to reward the commitment of staffers who work under “intense demands” and are constantly on call.
With Lujan Grisham set to leave office at the end of this year and New Mexico’s next governor likely to appoint their own inner circle, some staffers are also starting to leave for new jobs, the governor’s spokesman, Michael Coleman, said.
“Salary increases help to retain experienced employees who must assume an even greater workload as other staffers leave,” Coleman told the Journal.
“Gov. Lujan Grisham intends to finish strong, and retaining experienced staff through the end of her term ensures continuity and the ability to deliver on her priorities for New Mexico,” he added.
However, the salary increases could rankle some rank-and-file state employees who are facing rising costs for gasoline and many basic grocery items.
Megan Green, the president of the Communications Workers of America Local 7076 union, expressed frustration about the pay raises, saying most rank-and-file state workers cannot ask for merit-based salary hikes.
“We have to go every year and beg for a raise that almost never meets the increase in the cost of living,” Green told the Journal.
She also cited stubbornly high vacancy rates at many state agencies, while adding an overhaul of the state’s classified compensation system has not led to more advancement opportunities for state employees.
Among the Governor’s Office employees who received sizable raises last month are the governor’s deputy chief of staff, Diego Arencon, and Director of Cabinet Affairs Caroline Buerkle, both of whom saw their salary levels rise from $208,000 to around $225,000 per year — a roughly 8% increase.
An even larger pay raise was received by Rebecca Roose, the governor's senior infrastructure advisor, whose pay rate increased by more than 15% from $171,600 to $198,199 per year. The pay raises were first reported by The Candle, an online publication covering New Mexico news.
The two-term Democratic governor has now signed off on several rounds of salary increases for top appointees. Similar pay raises were doled out last year and after her reelection campaign in 2022, as well as during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lujan Grisham herself has not seen her $110,000-per year salary increase since taking office in 2019, since pay levels for statewide elected officials are set in statute. The governor did sign a 2023 bill increasing those salary levels, but the pay hike for the governor will not take effect until next year — after she leaves office. The state’s next governor will make $169,714 per year.
Meanwhile, the timing of the latest pay raises stems from the fact the governor and her chief of staff, Daniel Schlegel, meet to evaluate the performance and compensation of Governor’s Office staffers after the legislative session and bill-signing period conclude, Coleman said.
While Schlegel himself did not receive a salary increase in the latest round of raises, he did get a pay bump last year.
New Mexico enacts sweeping statewide fire restrictions to prevent wildfires - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
New Mexico forestry officials announced sweeping statewide fire restrictions Monday to prevent wildfires during the state’s unseasonably hot and dry spring.
The restrictions ban smoking; fireworks; campfires; any prescribed agricultural and debris burning; or oil and gas production flaring on state lands. The state will allow exceptions on a case-by-case basis if weather or other conditions are met, according to a news release.
The order will remain in place until officials at the state’s Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department cancel the ban following improved conditions and lower wildfire danger.
The order will remain in place until officials at the state’s Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department cancel the ban following improved conditions and lower wildfire danger.
New Mexico State Forester Laura McCarthy said 2026 is already a severe fire season, with 288 wildfires recorded in the first three months, more than double the average 136 fires recorded over the same period, for the last five years.
She said the dry conditions and state of vegetation compares to the state’s most devastating fire year on record.
“The snow pack is worse than it was in 2022, it was bad then, but it wasn’t this bad,” McCarthy said.
The state is working to hire additional firefighters, she said, with 180 applicants so far.
“We are preparing for an extraordinary wildfire season, with fire engines that are appropriate for wildland fire response already positioned around the state,” she said.
While the state’s order does not affect municipal, federal or tribal lands, it overlaps with recent fire restrictions adopted by counties and federal agencies.
County officials in Rio Arriba, Guadalupe and Catron have issued fire bans within their borders. Last week, the U.S. Forest Service issued higher-level fire restrictions in the Cibola National Forest and Grasslands, which limit vehicles and machinery uses along with open flames.
Lower level fire restrictions are in place for the Santa Fe National Forest and Lincoln National Forest, which only allow campfires in specific stone-lined rings at campsites and ban smoking.
Santa Fe County Fire Department and Edgewood to sever ties - Gregory R. C. Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
In less than three months, Edgewood residents may be without fire and emergency medical services after the town agreed to terminate its contract with the Santa Fe County Fire Department (SFCFD).
Last week, the town and fire department announced their joint powers agreement will end on June 30.
“After June 30, 2026, the town has no expectation of fire suppression, rescue, emergency medical services, fire prevention, or other services the county is providing under the JPA,” a Friday SFCFD news release states.
Under the agreement that has been in place since 2005, firefighters provided 24/7 fire and emergency medical services. Over 80% of the fire and emergency medical services calls in the area are within Edgewood, according to the fire department. In exchange for the services, the town agreed to pay county impact fees it collected on development “and the equivalent of the county fire protection excise tax imposed in the unincorporated area of the county,” the release states.
“When approached to resolve its delinquency payments, town management asserted that the amount due in fiscal year (2023-)2024 was $10,319.21 and $10,035.12 through May of fiscal year (2024-)2025, a significant decrease from the $658,077.19 the town had itself calculated and paid in fiscal year (2022-)2023,” according to the fire department.
Edgewood Mayor Mike Rariden said “there were different interpretations in the joint powers agreement as to exactly what the amount was to pay and I believe the prior town administration did everything possible to follow guidelines, follow legal procedures and get that interpretation interpreted so that we could pay.”
As a result of the settlement, the contract will be terminated, which “ends all claims with no financial payment by either side,” according to the town’s news release.
The end of the agreement has many Edgewood residents worried.
Old Mill Edgewood Manager Jennifer White said she is concerned about losing the highly qualified first responders. On social media, people’s comments ranged from well wishes to the fire department to being upset over a decision that has left them wondering what will happen next.
Rariden said the town is looking at different options to replace the fire and emergency services it will be losing. This includes contracting with an air ambulance service and working with fire departments in Bernalillo and Torrance counties.
“One thing that we try to relay to the folks is, ‘We live here, too, and we want to make sure our homes and our properties and families are protected as well,’” he said. “So, we have a vested interest in making sure we’re doing everything we can to get this done and get it done better than it was before.”
At 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Town Commission will have a closed-door meeting – 171A N.M. 344 – “with a public body’s (Santa Fe County) attorney pertaining to threatened or pending litigation in which the public body is or may become a participant,” according to the agenda.
In a social media post, the firefighters union, Local IAFF 4366, requested people to attend.
“This decision will leave the residents we took an oath to serve without the protection they’ve come to expect, and tragedy will result if this decision is not reversed,” according to the post.