Ken Miyagishima, the former mayor of Las Cruces, is suing New Mexico’s secretary of state over ballot access rules that he claims unfairly favor Democratic and Republican candidates. As an Independent candidate for governor, Miyagishima argues that the current rules require him to collect far more signatures than his Democratic and Republican counterparts to qualify for the general election ballot.

Signature Requirements

According to the current rules, Democrats need approximately 2,500 signatures, while Republicans need around 2,300. In contrast, Miyagishima and his running mate must gather more than 14,000 signatures by June 25 to make the ballot. Miyagishima is asking the court to lower his signature requirement to 7,100, which is the same as what is required for Green Party and Libertarian candidates.

Miyagishima’s campaign has collected around 8,000 signatures so far, with the June 25 deadline approaching. He noted that the current rules drive up campaign costs, as his team would need to send out text messages and hire companies to help collect signatures, which can be expensive.

The requirement stems from a state law mandating independent candidates collect signatures equal to 2% of all voters who participated in the last gubernatorial election. Miyagishima pointed out that other states, including Texas, California, and Illinois, require only 1%.

Original reporting: KOAT Albuquerque — read the source article.