Straight-ticket voting is quicker and easier than voting in each individual race on an election ballot. But critics of the option say it encourages voter laziness.

However, even those who oppose straight-ticket voting say don't hold your breath in hopes the state Legislature will abolish it any time soon.

New Mexico is one of just 16 states that have a straight-ticket voting option on its ballots. That option allows voters to choose a party's entire slate of candidates with one punch or mark on the ballot.

In Santa Fe County, 21,841 people voted straight-ticket. Of those, 17,044 were straight-party Democratic votes.

Santa Fe County Elections Bureau Director Denise Lamb said she doesn't like straight-party voting. "I'm just too independent minded," she said. But, she said, as an elections administrator, she believes the option causes unnecessary confusion among voters.

Green Party Public Regulation Commission candidate Rick Lass on Wednesday told The New Mexican he believes straight-ticket votes were the main factor in his defeat by scandal-scarred Democrat Jerome Block Jr. "I think probably more than half the people who voted for Block didn't know they were voting for Block because they just voted straight-party," said Lass, who said he plans to lobby to abolish the straight-ticket option.

But getting rid of the straight-ticket option has been tried several times in recent years. State Sen. Steve Komadina, R-Corrales, has introduced several such bills since 2001, all of which have died in committee without being heard on the Senate floor.

"Straight-party voting encourages people not to think, not to be informed," Komadina said.

Ironically, Komadina himself might have been the victim of straight-ticket voting this week. Unofficial results show Komadina about 50 votes behind Democratic challenger John Sapien. Although an automatic recount looms, Komadina said Thursday, "I don't think there's a chance I'll win."

Komadina said "there's no question" straight-party voters were a big factor in his race.

Democratic Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque agreed Thursday that Komadina's defeat was aided by the straight-ticket option. "This is one issue where I agree with Sen. Komadina," Ortiz y Pino said. "Straight-ticket voting doesn't make much sense. Right now it cuts (Democrats') way, but it could cut against us in the future."

But Ortiz y Pino doesn't see much of a chance that the Legislature will act against the option in the next session. Too many lawmakers have benefited from it, he said.

The straight-party option was the source of some election paranoia this year. In early October, county voting officials testing voting equipment discovered a glitch that would have kept straight-party votes from being counted in the presidential and other top races. Even though Lamb said the problem immediately was fixed, the story of the glitch appeared all over the Internet. Many sites warned readers not to use the straight-ticket option.

Straight-party voting is widespread and not confined to any one region of the country. Besides New Mexico, the other states are Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Some of the states have restrictions. For instance, North Carolina's straight-party voting is available for all races except president.

Since the early 1990s, according to the Web site of the National Conference of State Legislatures, five states have abolished straight-party voting. Those are Georgia, Illinois, New Hampshire, Missouri and South Dakota.

"South Dakota's action (in 1996) was bipartisan, with substantial majorities of both parties in the legislature approving the elimination" of straight-ticket voting, the NCSL said.

However, in other states, there were partisan dogfights.

"It was a highly partisan battle in Illinois, with the Republican legislature and governor abolishing (straight-party voting) on the last day before the new Legislature took office in January 1997," the NCSL site says. The issue wound up in the state Supreme Court, which in 1998 refused to reverse the Legislature's decision.

"Some Democrats in Georgia advocate reinstating it on the basis of several studies that have shown losses for Democrats, particularly among African American voters, since it was abolished," according to the NCSL.

Michigan's Legislature abolished the straight-ticket ballot in 2001. However, it was brought back by popular demand. Literally. The next year, according to the NCSL said, voters repealed the law in a state referendum.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.