So much for public involvement, input and fair redistricting.
The law the legislature passed in the 2022 spring session provided for a committee, the Citizen Redistricting Committee. This group of chosen people would travel the state and listen to public input to provide for a fair, almost apolitical, redrawing of Congressional, legislative and state education positions.
It was all for naught. The typical redistricting circus took place last week as state Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Doña Ana, and his committee disregarded almost all suggestions from the Committee and drew their own lines. Not surprisingly, these lines favor a Democratic-leaning voter population in each of the three Congressional districts.
Also don’t be surprised if Republicans take the issue to court. It’s the only chance of drawing lines fairly and possibly applying the proper guidelines. The most important instruction is that political party affiliation should not be a factor in redistricting. The main driver should be getting as close to an equal number of citizens in each district.
The law allows for a small difference in population between the three districts, plus or minus 5 percent. Our population of 1.7 million means the districts can not vary by more than about 28,000 people.
The law specifically states the composition of the districts can’t be based in political party but that is the first thing legislators look at when they draw their lines.
The Committee held (by law) at least six public meetings, “in Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Farmington, Roswell, Las Cruces and Española as well as on tribal lands, for the purpose of receiving public testimony on communities of interest and other aspects of redistricting.”
They worked the math and even took into account incarcerated people who could be residents of one county but are being housed in a detention facility somewhere else.
After those meetings the Committee went to work and drew lines that would be what they felt was a most congruous population. That doesn’t mean put all the Republicans in one district and Democrats in the other two. The map most people agree with had Bernalillo County and Sandoval County changing little and having the Congressional District 3, that’s us, extend down the east side of the state and absorb some of the ranchers and oil folks there.
It didn’t make sense that people in the north would have much in common with eastern and southern New Mexico folks when it comes to infrastructure, education, energy and water needs but every district can’t be perfect. And what passed the House Sunday is far from perfect.
So the Committee came to town, residents attended and spoke. Committee members listened. They went into drawing mode the first week of August and emerged with three very different options. Most people in the north and south agreed the map absorbing part of the south wasn’t ideal but what legislators did was much worse.
That map is in front of the governor at this writing. We doubt a Democrat governor will disagree with two Democrat majority legislative bodies. It’s “good work” all around with back-patting aplenty.
New Mexico struggles to enter the late 20th century because we sorely lack vision at the state level in almost every department. From the state Public Education Department to Children Youth and Families to the Tax and Revenue Department, we can’t get out of our own way. The lack of process followed by the legislature is indicative of that lack of vision. It’s better to protect your political future than do the job for which you were elected.
Instead of working toward a less than ideal redistricting that follows federal and state law, along with the participating public’s desire(s), our myopic legislators want to help themselves in the next election and protect each other’s turf.
The good news is the Committee worked. The process to populate it, visit and listen to the populace and execute its ideals all followed the new law. Now if we could just get legislators to accept the public’s wishes instead of their own.