The post includes an informative video from Sunday’s kick-off. Chainbreaker’s Tomás Rivera describes very clearly our Tale of Two Cities. Also info on today’s City Council action item regarding Ranked Choice Voting and what you can do. And an invitation to the Wall of Love unveiling at the Railyard with music, chocolate & speakers.
At the end of this post is a tremendous video from our Kickoff meeting last Sunday in support of Chainbreaker’s Equity Summer. Tomás Rivera describes the scope of economic and racial injustice in Santa Fe with maps and charts to underscore his point. Thanks to Andy Fertal for assembling this compelling video.
Wall of Love Installation, this Friday, June 30, 6:15-8pm, Railyard Performance Center across from Farmer’s Market. Join City Councilor Renee Villarreal, leadership from Retake Our Democracy, and Bobbe Besold and Margaret Lubalin who spearheaded the development of the Wall of Love. In a time of vitriolic, often hateful public discourse, the Wall of Love was envisioned as an antidote. It has inspired over 200 Santa Feans, young and old, to participate and create 12″X12″ panels, now assembled into a 50-foot wall, and to be unveiled on Friday. There will be music, chocolate kisses (yum), and glorious weather. So let’s come together as a community. No RSVP, just show up and celebrate this inspiring community project. If you can help for an hour at 9am this Friday at the Railyard, help is need to actually install the Wall, please contact Margaret Lubalin at mlubalin@gmail.com.
Ranked Choice Voting in Santa Fe: Decision Time. In a prior post I presented information on Ranked Choice Voting, click here to review that post. Ranked Choice Voting is on the agenda for this afternoon’s City Council session that begins at 5pm in the hearing room at City Hall, 200 Lincoln. While it is the next to last item on the agenda, there is a second session to be held at 7pm, so if the schedule holds we will be done before 7pm. In communication with Councilor Villarreal, I was told that this was not a hearing about whether to approve Ranked Choice Voting, but that it was a matter of readiness by March 2018. March 2018 will be ten years since voters approved this democratic form of voting, putting Santa Fe well ahead of the country in vision and well behind in implementation. Apparently our leadership needs to hear that ten years ought to be enough time to implement our will. While we may not be allowed to speak, it is important to show up!! Maria Perez from FairVote will be there and since signs are not allowed, she will have bright card stock 1/4 page signs that say “I support Ranked Choice Voting” that folks can pin to their shirts. And we encourage you to also contact your City Councilor and the Mayor. I have emails out to Councilor Villarreal and Secretary of State Toulouse Oliver and will update the situation on Retake our Democracy’s Facebook page today. Click here to get to our FB page and while there, click to like.Speaking Points and Contact Information
WHAT TO SAY? Speaking / writing points are provided below. It is important to customize your message so you are not clearly reading / writing off of a script. Please both email and call your Councilor and the Mayor today.
- Mention that you live in Santa Fe, maybe tell them for how long and why this is important to you.
- When contacting your Councilor, tell them you live in their district and, if true, that you voted for them.
- Explain that you are calling/emailing today to ask your elected representative to support the implementation of Ranked Choice Voting for our next municipal elections.
- Santa Fe voters approved Ranked Choice Voting in 2008 and nine years is enough time to implement the voters’ will.
- It hasn’t been implemented yet because the adequate voting equipment hasn’t been available.
- Now the equipment is available and it will be ready to run a Ranked Choice Voting election.
- While there had been concerns about the system’s need for a software update, Secretary of State Toulouse Oliver has sent an email to theCity Clerk assuring her that this update will be available in time for the election. This may be the sticking point.
- It will be 10 years since the voters approved Ranked Choice Voting in March. Let’s get this done.
- Thank you!
- Below is contact information on all the City Council members and our Mayor.
Contact Information for the Mayor and City Council Members
MAYOR JAVIER GONZALES (505) 955-6590, jmgonzales@santafenm.gov
District 1.
- Renee Villarreal, District 1 Councilor, (505) 955-2345, rdvillarreal@santafenm.gov
- Signe I. Lindell, District 1 Councilor, (505) 955-6812, silindell@santafenm.gov
District 2.
- Joseph Maestas, District 2 Councilor, (505) 955-6815, jmmaestas@santafenm.gov
- Peter Ives, District 2 Councilor, (505) 955-6816, pnives@santafenm.gov
District 3
- Carmichael Dominguez, District 3 Councilor, (505) 955-6814, cadominguez@santafenm.gov
- Chris Rivera, District 3 Councilor, (505) 955-6818, cmrivera@santafenm.gov
District 4
- Ron Trujillo, District 4 Councilor, (505) 955-6811, rstrujillo@santafenm.gov
- Micheal Harris, District 4 Councilor, (505) 955-6817, maharris@santafenm.gov
FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO GET FURTHER INVOLVED, PLEASE CONTACT MARIA PEREZ AT mperez@fairvotenm.org or call (505 550 0647)
Learn How Divided Our City Is Economically & Racially. Click here for more on what Equity Summer is and how you can become involved.
Categories: Actions, Economic justice, election reform
Paul,
FYI, I am luke warm on the idea of Ranked Choice Voting. In principle, it’s great. In practice, for races of any size, it probably requires computerized vote counting. That’s OK if there is a rigorous post-election protocol for auditing what the machines have decided regarding the vote counts. We do that routinely for federal and statewide contests based on “first past the post” vote counting, but I don’t believe that anyone has developed a practical method for auditing ranked choice voting.
Just sayin’.
Paul
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On a national election, I would share this concern as hacking could not be caught, but in a local election, I would not be as concerned. What do you think?