New Mexico Dates for School Elections Amendment (2016)
| Dates for School Elections Amendment | |
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| Type | Amendment |
| Origin | Legislature |
| Topic | Elections and campaigns |
| Status | Not on the ballot |
| Not on Ballot |
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| This measure was not put on an election ballot |
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The New Mexico Dates for School Elections Amendment did not appear on the November 8, 2016 ballot in New Mexico as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment. The measure would have removed the mandate that school elections be held on different dates than any other elections.[1]
Text of measure
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article VII, New Mexico Constitution
The measure would have amended Section 1 of Article VII of the Constitution of New Mexico. The following struck-through text would be deleted and the underlined text would be added by the proposed measure's approval:[1]
Every citizen of the United States who is over the age of twenty-one years and has resided in New Mexico twelve months, in the county ninety days, and in the precinct in which [he] the person offers to vote thirty days, next preceding the election, except idiots, insane persons and persons convicted of a felonious or infamous crime unless restored to political rights, shall be qualified to vote at all elections for public officers. The legislature may enact laws providing for absentee voting by qualified electors. All school elections shall be held at different times from other elections.
The legislature shall have the power to require the registration of the qualified electors as a requisite for voting and shall regulate the manner, time and places of voting. The legislature shall enact such laws as will secure the secrecy of the ballot and the purity of elections and guard against the abuse of elective franchise. Not more than two members of the board of registration and not more than two judges of election shall belong to the same political party at the time of their appointment.[2]
Background
Women's suffrage
The issue of women's suffrage was a prominent controversy in the crafting of the New Mexico Constitution. The constitution's drafters decided to take a limited step towards women's suffrage by granting women the right to vote in school elections. These elections were separated from all other elections so that women could not vote in non-school elections. As Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto said, "[this occurred] to make sure not only that women were allowed to vote in [school elections], but to keep them out of all other elections."[3]
In 1920, Article XIX of the United States Constitution was ratified, thus granting women the right to vote in all elections nationwide. However, the constitutional provision mandating the separation of school election dates from other elections remained. Section 3 of Article VII of the New Mexico Constitution makes this difficult to change.
Previous votes
In 2008, New Mexicans voted on Amendment 4, which was virtually the same as this proposed amendment. While Amendment 4 received 73.6 percent of the vote, the amendment required a three-fourths majority to pass.[4] According to Section 3 of Article VII of the New Mexico Constitution, Section 1 and Section 3 of the article cannot be amended without "at least three-fourths of the electors voting in the whole state, and at least two-thirds of those voting in each county of the state."
The New Mexico Legislature tried again in November 2014, but only 57.6 percent of voters approved the amendment.
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the New Mexico Constitution
According to Article XIX of the New Mexico Constitution, a simple majority is required in the legislature to refer the amendment to the ballot.
The 2015 legislative session ended on March 21, 2015, without the legislature referring the amendment to the ballot.[5] Legislators could reintroduce the amendment during the 2016 legislative session, but the legislative session ended on February 18, 2016, without the measure being referred to the ballot.
Similar measures
- New Mexico Dates for School Elections, Amendment 1 (2014)
- New Mexico School Elections Act, Amendment 4 (2008)
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 New Mexico Legislature, "House Joint Resolution 17," accessed March 21, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source.
- ↑ Albuquerque Journal, "Ballot may be confusing on school election change," October 22, 2014
- ↑ Ruidoso News, "Five state constitutional amendments to consider in November," August 12, 2014
- ↑ KOAT, "New Mexico legislative session ends," March 22, 2015
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