SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – With less than a week to go in the legislative session, lawmakers are still trying to get some proposals through committee meetings. Among the ideas on the agenda for Friday are a proposal to change how New Mexico sets voting districts and a proposal to let New Mexico counties leave and join another state. New Mexico’s voters would have to approve both proposals before they go into effect.
Redistricting
Every 10 years, after the U.S. Census Bureau finishes the population count, New Mexico undergoes redistricting, the process to draw the state’s voting districts. The last few times the state went through the process, politicians ended up arguing in court over the maps.
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Now, a bipartisan joint resolution aims to prevent that. Senate Joint Resolution 7 would let an independent commission – rather than the state’s legislature – propose and approve voting maps. During the most recent redistricting process, an independent commission drew maps, but the legislature rejected those maps.