[LWVNM Action] The New Mexico Redistricting Process Needs Sunshine

[Richard Mason]

*The New Mexico Redistricting Process Needs Sunshine Letter to the Editor
Published in the ABQ Journal March 25, 2020*



Last week was National Sunshine Week. Initiated in 2005, it is sponsored by
the News Leaders Association and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the
Press and is meant to promote open government and public access to
information.


The League of Women Voters of New Mexico believes that one area of
government that would benefit from more sunshine is the redistricting
process that takes place every 10 years following the U.S. census. To that
end the League has launched the Fair Districts for New Mexico Project that
now has over 20 supporting organizations.


New Mexico has a long history of having its redistricting maps litigated
and decided by the courts. From the 1960 redistricting cycle until 1991,
New Mexico was forced to get pre-clearance by the US Department of Justice
to assure that the maps approved by the legislature and the governor
complied with federal standards for fair representation. In 1995, DOJ once
again required pre-clearance after the 1992 amended maps violated the
standards.

The 2001 and 2011 redistricting cycles ended up in the courts. The courts
ended up setting the districts and it cost the state more than $6 million
in legal costs. More importantly, it cost an additional loss of public
confidence in the political process.


That is why the Fair Districts for New Mexico Project is requesting that
the Legislative Council create a cross-partisan Redistricting Task Force
that would include legislators, public members, representatives from the
Governor’s office and the Secretary of State. The task force should start
meeting in late spring of 2020 and report its recommendations to the
relevant legislative interim committee and to the 2021 Legislature.


New Mexico was one of the last states to create an independent ethics
commission. It should not be one of the last states to institute reforms
that will make the redistricting process fairer and more transparent.


Richard Mason
Leader of the Fair Districts for New Mexico Project
League of Women Voters of New Mexico
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