ROSWELL — A statewide ban on the carrying of firearms within 100 feet of a polling place advanced out of a Senate committee Jan. 24 on a party-line vote.
Following more than two hours of public comment, queries and discussion, Senate Bill 5 (S.B. 5) passed the Senate Rules Committee 7 to 4. All Republicans on the committee opposed passage, including Roswell Sens. Greg Nibert and Cliff Pirtle.
The proposal now heads to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration.
S.B. 5 would make it a petty misdemeanor, punishable by a term of up to six months in prison for carrying a firearm within 100 feet of a site whenever voting is underway. That buffer zone is 50 feet for postal collection boxes or monitored secured containers, commonly known as ballot drop boxes.
Law enforcement officers carrying firearms during their duties or security personnel authorized by local government officials would be exempt from the restriction.
The bill comes amid a rash of mass shootings, a rise in political violence and heightened threats against election workers.
“Guns and elections don’t mix,” said Sen. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe), the sponsor of the measure. S.B. 5 builds upon a proposal he introduced last year, which passed the Senate 28 to 9. The legislation, however, did not get taken up in the New Mexico House before the session ended.
Wirth said the bill is the product of discussions he has had with constituents in his Santa Fe-based district, many of whom are volunteers at polling places who feel threatened by the presence of firearms at voting locations.
Firearms are already prohibited at polling places in schools and courthouses, and Wirth said his bill will create consistency on the issue.
“What this does is it does establish an outright ban on having guns in polling places,” Wirth said.
Meredith Mechan of the League of Women Voters said the presence of weapons at polling places can cause people not to vote and make it more difficult to recruit election workers.
“It’s chilling when you know guns can be there,” Mechan said to the committee while speaking in favor of the bill.
Unlike the 2023 draft of the bill, S.B. 5 does include a provision that exempts a person “conducting lawful, non-election-related business” closer to the distances to polling locations and drop boxes stated in the bill.
Critics, though, say they believe the bill would infringe on their rights.