11/5/11

Today was Bank Transfer Day!

There have been studies that show that different electoral systems give different outcomes for both poverty and health between countries. There needs to be similar studies done within the US for local or state governments. Luckily there are studies that show local area health and poverty. Here is one example showing county level income inequity.

There are Secretaries of State who track good information for the state. Such as how many people are registered in which parties. Believe it or not many counties and states do not publish this. It may be that they are worried about encouraging people to register in other parties. Here is one example of sharing good voting data. The 20+% of voters not categorized into parties may be "left" or "right." Since they are not listed they often get put into the category of "middle of the road."

Measuring and reporting those in different parties might encourage participation in these parties. In NM there are many parties recognized and more people registering in these parties will show that people have specific values and policies they support.

Democracy is about voice and about choice. It is important to recognize that there is an attempt to disenfranchise voters. House Dems wrote to all Secretaries of State and encouraged them to be advocates for participation and democracy.

Here is a list of "Left" parties in NM. You can register in one of these by putting the three letter abbreviation in box 5 of the voter registration form.

La Raza Unida de Nuevo Mejico (LRU)
New Mexico Socialist Party (SNM)
New Party of New Mexico (PNM)
Peace and Freedom Party (PAF)
Socialist Labor Party (SLP)
Socialist Workers Party (SWP)
Worker's World Party (WWP)