New Mexico voters will decide whether to allow school elections to be held at the same time as state or federal partisan
The New Mexico State Legislature voted to send an amendment to voters in November that would repeal the constitutional requirement that school elections be held at different times from partisan elections, allowing them to be held on the same dates as partisan elections, such as statewide and federal elections.
The amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 1 (SJR 1), passed the state Senate by a vote of 38-0, with four members not voting, on Feb. 5. SJR 1 passed the state House by a vote of 50-9, with 11 members not voting, on Feb. 19. It received support from 100% of voting Democrats and 77% of voting Republicans.
The constitutional provision, dating back to the 1910 constitutional convention, required 12 school district elections in 2024, according to the secretary of state.
The state legislature tried to change this requirement in 2008 by referring Amendment 4 to the ballot. It would have changed this sentence in Article VII as follows: “All school elections shall be held at different times from [other] partisan elections.” It was approved by a margin of 74% to 26%. However, the New Mexico Compilation Commission did not update the constitution to reflect the change because it was not approved by three-fourths of voters (75%), which is required by Section 3 of Article VII for amendments that restrict rights.
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