After a proposal to take the responsibility of drawing the state’s voting maps out of New Mexico lawmakers’ hands failed to pass in the last two legislative sessions, advocates and lawmakers calling for a fairer, less partisan process are planning to take another stab at it.
The joint resolution would put the question to New Mexico voters of whether an independent commission should draw the boundaries of the voting districts for the state Legislature, Public Education Commission, and U.S. House. Polling has shown broad public support for the idea.
Dede Feldman, former Democratic state Senator and advocate with Common Cause New Mexico, said on New Mexico in Focus that the current process is inherently partisan.
“The Legislature is always going to fall into the trap of having the majority party draw the map that they like to maximize their influence,” she said.
Justice Ed Chavez, chair of the Citizen Redistricting Committee and former state Supreme Court chief justice, said a key difference between the failed proposals and the one set to be introduced next month is how the nine commissioners would be selected.
He said the Secretary of State would solicit and review applications, making a list of proposed candidates with the help of a demographer. Legislative leaders from each party would then get the opportunity to strike up to three people from that list. From there, the Secretary of State would randomly select two thirds of the commission.
“Those six members would then look at the applications, thinking about the geography and the demographics of our state, and would try to balance that commission by selecting the remaining three,” Chavez said.
The next round of redistricting will take place in 2031 after the next Census.
Watch the roundtable discussion in its entirety at NewMexicoPBS.org and on the New Mexico in Focus YouTube Channel.
