Group wants constitutional amendment on New Mexico redistricting rules

Rep. Natalie Figueroa, D-Albuquerque, has agreed to introduce the amendment, which does not need the governor’s approval to be heard during the 30-day session, slated to begin Jan. 18.

But whether that amendment, which would be pitched in the form of a House Joint Resolution, will gain any traction is unclear.

“We are talking about girding our loins for a long battle,” Figueroa said during a Tuesday evening Zoom meeting on the issue hosted by Fair Districts. “Don’t anyone think it’s going to happen quickly.”

She said that while many lawmakers in the House worked to do the right thing with creating the maps, “there was a fair amount of protectionism.”

An amendment is necessary to remove current language that gives the Legislature the right to make the final decision on the maps, Figueroa said.

The amendment would require a majority vote of approval in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

If both chambers approved the measure, it would be placed on the November general election ballot. Even after that, lawmakers would have to work in the future to establish enabling legislation to lay out all the rules for the amendment.

Redistricting takes place every 10 years and uses updated U.S. Census data to redraw boundaries for Congress, legislative seats and, in New Mexico, the Public Education Commission. In New Mexico, the process has been fraught with lawsuits and political battles for decades, because redistricting can determine which party and people hold power for years.

After an independent Citizens Redistricting Committee reviewed, vetted and analyzed a number of potential maps over months in 2021, that seven-member body forwarded three map options for Congress, the state House of Representatives and Senate, and Congress to the Legislature for final approval and adoption during a two-week special session in December.

However, nothing in the redistricting guidelines required lawmakers to accept any of the maps as they were proposed. Rather, legislators could propose and adopt their own maps or alter some aspects of the proposed maps before approving them, which is what they did when it came to the House, Senate and Congress maps.

Some politicians and redistricting advocates criticized the fact that the Legislature altered both the congressional and state Senate maps before approving them. And Senate Republicans blasted the final map approved by the Senate, where Democrats hold a majority, saying it was gerrymandered to favor Democratic candidates in the next election. They also spoke of behind-closed-doors meetings where deals were made to approve the final map.

Dick Mason, project director for Fair Districts, which represents 40 organizations pushing for open redistricting efforts in the state, said Fair Districts was happy with the way the House acted on approving its own new map.

He said the House basically adopted one of the recommended maps from the Citizens Redistricting Committee while overlaying it with suggestions from a consensus map proposed by a coalition of tribal entities.

Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque and a vocal advocate for separating the Legislature from the redistricting process, said during the Zoom meeting that he likes the idea of a commission drawing all the maps to “take the self-interest out of the process of redistricting.”

He added, “I just don’t see any way around the issue of self-dealing but for taking it out of the hands of the Legislature.”

Figueroa, Mason and others involved in the Zoom meeting said they are working on drafting the wording for the amendment with the hope of filing it next week.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has already signed the bills approving the maps for Congress, the House and the Public Education Commission into law, is expected to act on the Senate redistricting bill Thursday, said her spokeswoman, Nora Meyers Sackett.