[LWVNM Action] Group wants constitutional amendment on New Mexico redistricting rules

[Richard Mason]

Group wants constitutional amendment on New Mexico redistricting rules

   - By Robert Nott rnott at sfnewmexican.com
   <https://www.santafenewmexican.com/users/profile/robert>



   - Jan 5, 2022 Updated 9 hrs ago



   -  0
   <https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/group-wants-constitutional-amendment-on-new-mexico-redistricting-rules/article_5e30832a-6cb4-11ec-8863-57b515bd5995.html#comments>



If you thought everything about redistricting was settled, think again.

   -

Fair Districts for New Mexico, a redistricting advocacy group made up of 40
organizations, is proposing a constitutional amendment in the coming
legislative session to bind lawmakers to choosing a map proposed by an
independent citizens redistricting committee.
The amendment would also change the way lawmakers choose members of that
committee.
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.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.swcp.com/pipermail/action/attachments/20220106/8fda4af9/attachment.htm>