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Dan McKay, ABQJournal – New Mexico’s 19 pueblos and the Jicarilla Apache Nation have filed redistricting plans they say would protect the voting strength of Native American communities and begin to address a history of “voter disenfranchisement and suppression.” The tribes submitted plans to redraw New Mexico’s congressional district boundaries and, in the northwest part of the state, the legislative districts. [READ MORE]
Patrick Lohmann, SourceNM – When rural New Mexicans gather each year for “la limpia de la acequia,” it’s about more than just clearing the vital irrigation channels of dirt and debris, according to the New Mexico Acequia Association. The annual ritual, in fact, shows how communities are shaped around acequias and why political districts should be drawn with the ditches in mind. Having an acequia builds a sense of neighborliness through water-sharing agreements and the annual cleaning, the association argues; and democracy emerges through regular maintenance meetings. [READ MORE]
Robert Nott, Santa Fe New Mexican – A committee tasked with drawing election district boundaries on behalf of a coalition of Native American communities on Friday submitted a proposal that would dramatically shake up the state’s three congressional districts. Under the plan created by the All Pueblo Council of Governors’ Ad Hoc Redistricting Committee, the northernmost 3rd Congressional District, which includes Santa Fe, would extend down into what is now the 2nd Congressional District in Southern New Mexico to incorporate portions of the Mescalero Apache Tribe. That also would expand the Albuquerque-centric 1st Congressional District to the southwest to “unpack some of that population and political power and get it distributed to the south,” said Keegan King of Acoma Pueblo, a committee co-chairman. [READ MORE]
Dan McKay, ABQJournal – SANTA FE – Rio Rancho could gain a seat in the state House under redistricting plans issued this week as New Mexico prepares to draw new political boundaries. The new Rio Rancho district would come at the expense of either rural northern New Mexico or the Northeast Heights of Albuquerque. But neither idea is set in stone. They’re just among the options the Citizens Redistricting Committee is asking New Mexicans to evaluate and comment on. [READ MORE]
Dan McKay, Albuquerque Journal – SANTA FE – Albuquerque could share a congressional district with Rio Rancho or Santa Fe under proposals moving forward as New Mexico prepares to redraw its political boundaries. Parts of the far South Valley in Bernalillo County, by contrast, could move into a southern New Mexico-based district. The ideas are outlined in seven potential maps – covering a host of competing concepts – approved Thursday for further scrutiny and to solicit public comment. [READ MORE]
Robert Nott, Santa Fe New Mexican – Redrawing electoral boundaries is not unlike taking a Rorschach ink blot test. There are a variety of shapes and sizes, all subject to different interpretations. And as a redistricting committee tasked with reconfiguring boundaries for Congress, the Legislature and the Public Education Commission began looking at various potential maps of New Mexico’s electoral topography for the next 10 years, it was clear there are plenty of options from which to choose. [READ MORE]
Patrick Lohmann, SourceNM.com
Members of the public will get their first look this week at maps that could become the new political boundaries in New Mexico. How those boundaries are drawn plays a large role in how political power is distributed. When politicians shape the districts so one party always has the advantage, that’s gerrymandering. Redistricting fights in the state Legislature got ugly in the past, and they’ve resulted in lawsuits, like 10 years ago when people sued the state, accusing officials of diluting “minority voting strength, and denial of equal protection of the laws.” [READ MORE] Edward L. Chavez, Chairman Citizen Redistricting Committee, Retired New Mexico Supreme Court Justice
Your participation is a key to the success of our democracy. We generally think that means voting, but your opportunity to have a say in who your elected representatives will be starts with the drawing of our district lines. The pool of candidates to represent your interests is drawn from our voting districts – and those districts are redrawn every 10 years. This is done to account for changes in New Mexico’s population growth and distribution, but it’s not just a numbers game. It’s about people and communities, priorities and values, challenges and solutions – and making sure the candidates you get to choose from are familiar with your needs and interests, and best able to represent your interests. [READ MORE] Morgan Lee, Associated Press (via ABQJournal)
SANTA FE – Native American communities across New Mexico are completing proposed redistricting maps aimed at greater self-determination in future public elections, as competing plans wind their way toward the Legislature for consideration. Participants in a redistricting commission for New Mexico’s Indigenous pueblo communities said Friday that map proposals may be finished as soon as this week. The maps will be submitted to a seven-member Citizen Redistricting Commission that is reviewing proposed redistricting maps for the Legislature, which can adopt recommendations or start from scratch [READ MORE] Dede Feldman, Former New Mexico State Senator
As the state’s Citizens Redistricting Commission prepares to issue its draft district maps on Sept. 16, I can’t help but think back to the tumultuous redistricting process in 2001 when I was a state senator. The census figures came in on time that year, but that was the only thing that was easy. The population had shifted dramatically from the rural areas of New Mexico to the cities. This decade’s trend shows the loss of rural population too, but nothing like 2001. Then, Rio Rancho had exploded, and the mostly Republican eastern side of the state had lost ground. [READ MORE] |
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