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Question of lawmakers drawing their own voting districts not likely to go before NM voters

New Mexico House districts following the 2021 redistricting process. A House panel voted Monday Feb. 20, 2023, to table House Joint Resolution 1, which would ask voters whether lawmakers or an independent redistricting commission should have the power to decide where the boundaries fall on the state's voting maps. The measure could but is not likely to move any further this session.
New Mexico Legislature
New Mexico House districts following the 2021 redistricting process. A House panel voted Monday Feb. 20, 2023, to table House Joint Resolution 1, which would ask voters whether lawmakers or an independent redistricting commission should have the power to decide where the boundaries fall on the state's voting maps. The measure could but is not likely to move any further this session.

The second attempt since the last redistricting process to get a question on the ballot about who should be in charge of drawing New Mexico’s voting districts has fizzled in the Legislature.

House Joint Resolution 1 would ask voters whether to amend the state’s constitution, taking the redistricting process away from lawmakers and giving it to an independent commission instead. It was nearly unanimously tabled in the House Judiciary Committee Monday, with lawmakers from both parties voting to set the measure aside, with only Democratic Rep. Andrea Romero voting against doing so.

A similar bill stalled in the same committee last year, but without getting a hearing. Bill co-sponsor, Democratic Rep. Natalie Figueroa, told KUNM at the time that she wanted to “come back strong and fast and make sure that it moves farther in the next session.” Ahead of the vote to table it Monday, she made one last effort to convince the panel to move the legislation forward to a vote of the full House.

Minority Leader Ryan Lane and others had argued that lawmakers should be the ones to draw the maps because they’re elected by and accountable to the voters. That’s opposed to the proposed redistricting commissioners who would be appointed by the State Ethics Commission after Legislative leadership from each party gets an opportunity to strike nominees from a list.

“It is the people who are asking for this opportunity,” Figueroa said. “They will be deciding whether we have an independent redistricting commission or not. As direct representatives of the people, that is our job.”

A recent study showed 77% of New Mexicans support the idea of an independent commission.

Democratic Rep. Gail Chasey reiterated her position from last year that the 2021 redistricting process, which was the first to have the Citizen Redistricting Committee engage the public and recommend maps to lawmakers, worked well — at least in the House, which got the closest to using a CRC map.

“If you are happy with our House process, let’s codify it,” Figueroa told the panel. “Let’s make sure it consistently happens. Let’s make sure those maps are binding instead of advisory.”

However, University of New Mexico researchers found evidence that even House lawmakers engaged in incumbency protection in their final map — a form of gerrymandering that lowers the competition for sitting lawmakers.

Figueroa also spoke to concerns about whether the Supreme Court might soon decide that the U.S. Constitution gives state lawmakers control over the maps regardless of state policy.

“But we don’t control that from here,” Figueroa said of this possibly becoming a federal process. “What we control is New Mexico’s process, or at least the opportunity to give the voters a chance to say whether this is what they choose. And that will put pressure on the federal system to make that choice.”

While there’s still plenty of time to bring a version of this proposal back to the Legislature ahead of the next redistricting process in 2031, it’s unlikely to get another chance this session. Figueroa had argued that now was the time to get this done because the last round of redistricting is still fresh in people’s minds.

Nash Jones (they/them) is a general assignment reporter in the KUNM newsroom and the local host of NPR's All Things Considered (weekdays on KUNM, 5-7 p.m. MT). You can reach them at nashjones@kunm.org or on Twitter @nashjonesradio.
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