FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 17, 2020
Contact: Richard Mason act@lwvnm.org 505/239-3804
Fair Districts for New Mexico, a project of the League of Women Voters of New Mexico, and its partners are supporting House Memorial 8 (HM8) in the NM House of Representatives, to be heard in the 2020 legislative session which begins next week. The coalition of organizations includes a number of those who supported the New Mexico Ethics Commission in 2019.
HM8 is a request to the New Mexico Legislative Council to convene a redistricting task force to develop concrete recommendations to improve New Mexico’s redistricting process following the 2020 census, including proposed rules and guidelines, statutory standards for redistricting, and strategies for authentic public input. HM8 will be introduced by Rep. Daymon Ely, HD23, of Corrales.
The proposed redistricting task force would be comprised of Democrat and Republican legislators, six members of the public who represent nonpartisan organizations and shall be appointed by the New Mexico Legislative Council, two appointees of the Governor, and the Secretary of State;
The 2001 and 2011 redistricting processes ended with the courts drawing the districts and costing New Mexico taxpayers an additional $6.5 million in court costs and attorney fees.
Twenty-one other states have either an independent redistricting commission or procedures that increase the transparency and integrity of the redistricting process. Organizations Supporting Fair Districts for New Mexico: League of Women Voters of New Mexico; Common Cause New Mexico; New Mexico Ethics Watch; New Mexico Open Elections; Progressive Democrats of America Central New Mexico; Indivisible Corrales; The Brennan Center for Justice; Election Reformers Network; Princeton Gerrymandering Project; New Mexico First; Indivisible Nob Hill; ACLU-NM, New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics (NMMOP); New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry.
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