NEW MEXICO Wednesday Entailed Lots of Waiting

Senate Rules Committee had a few bills to watch today but the committee had so many other bills that these were rolled until Friday!

SB 205, Unaffiliated Voters in Primary Elections, sponsored by Sen. John Sapien, will allow those voters who are not affiliated with any party vote in the primary of their choice.

SB 393, Lobbyist Reporting Requirements, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto and Rep. Jim Smith, will amend the Lobbyist Regulation Act to require that all expenditures are reported, if the aggregate thereof equals $100 or more, fixing an unintentional problem created last year.

SJR 12, Fair Election Constitutional Convention, sponsored by Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, would call a Constitutional Convention to address Money in Politics. While CCNM obviously supports fighting big money in politics, we steadfastly oppose a Constitutional Convention. You can read our report, The Dangerous Path: Big Money’s Plan to Shred the Constitution and also review our fact sheet on the Con Con.

Thursday February 23

HJR 3, Independent Redistricting Commission, sponsored by Rep. Carl Trujillo, Sen. Bill O’Neill and Sen. Mark Moores, is scheduled for a hearing Thursday, February 23 at 1:30 p.m. in the House Local Government, Elections, Land Grants and Cultural Affairs Committee.

Common Cause New Mexico supports the creation of an independent commission to conduct redistricting. This will establish written criteria for re-drawing district boundaries and require a fair and transparent process for conducting redistricting. The drawing of electoral districts is not transparent and all too often, there is no public participation. The resulting districts can often serve the political interests of the people who draw them, rather than the interests of the people being represented. 

When voters feel that their input doesn’t matter, they stop participating. Seeing incumbents win time and again because districts are rigged to stifle competition creates a sense of incumbent inevitability and creates a disconnection between citizens and their elected officials. This combination of disenfranchisement and low voter participation is toxic to our democracy.

Check out the press release we sent out today about the hearing!

Friday, February 23

SB 224, Register Voters 3 Days Before Elections, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Steinborn, is scheduled for the Senate Public Affairs Committee at 2:30 p.m. This bill will extend the Voter Registration Deadline by allowing registration through the Saturday before Election Day. Democracy works best when the highest number of people participate in the process. Low voter turnout has been a problem in New Mexico, and registering through early voting is an effective way to boost voter turnout.

Our election officials currently have the technology to process voter registration forms in real time thus allowing registration through the Saturday before Election Day.

Please check in for an update from the Common Cause New Mexico team tomorrow so see what bills may be added to the committee calendar on the Democracy Wire page of our website!

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