2021 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 1 - Elections
Article 3A - Redistricting
Section 1-3A-7 - District plans; requirements and prohibitions.

A. The committee shall develop district plans in accordance with the following provisions:

(1) congressional districts shall be as equal in population as practicable;

(2) state districts shall be substantially equal in population; no plans for state office will be considered that have a total deviation of more than ten percent;

(3) the committee shall use the most recent federal decennial census data generated by the United States census bureau and may use other reliable sources of demographic data as determined by majority vote of the committee;

(4) proposed redistricting plans to be considered by the legislature shall not be composed of districts that split precincts;

(5) plans must comport with the provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, and federal constitutional standards; plans that dilute a protected minority's voting strength are unacceptable; race may be considered in developing redistricting plans but shall not be the predominant consideration; traditional race-neutral districting principles shall not be subordinated to racial considerations;

(6) all redistricting plans shall use only single-member districts;

(7) districts shall be drawn consistent with traditional districting principles;

(8) districts shall be composed of contiguous precincts and shall be reasonably compact;

(9) to the extent feasible, districts shall be drawn in an attempt to preserve communities of interest and shall take into consideration political and geographic boundaries, including the boundaries of Indian nations, tribes and pueblos; and

(10) in addition, and to the extent feasible, the committee may seek to preserve the core of existing districts.

B. The committee may incorporate suggested changes to its proposed district plans in accordance with public comments and testimony it receives, but shall not subordinate the requirements of Paragraphs (1) through (9) of Subsection A of this section in doing so.

C. When proposing or adopting district plans, the committee shall not:

(1) use, rely upon or reference partisan data, such as voting history or party registration data; provided that voting history in elections may be considered to ensure that the district plan complies with applicable federal law; or

(2) consider the voting address of candidates or incumbents, except to avoid the pairing of incumbents unless necessary to conform to other traditional districting principles.

History: Laws 2021, ch. 79, § 8.

Effective dates. — Laws 2021, ch. 79, § 13 made Laws 2021, ch. 79, § 8 effective July 1, 2021.