On Thursday, the New Mexico Citizens Redistricting Committee is set to meet in Albuquerque to discuss redrawing state House, state Senate, congressional, and Public Education Commission maps.
This redistricting year is the first in the state’s history where citizens are allowed to submit their very own district maps along with written testimony for free.
According to the committee staff, “Use the public input portal to submit a map or written testimony. The link to do that is here. Submit a Public Comment or Map – New Mexico Citizens Redistricting Committee (nmredistricting.org) This is the first time that communities have had access to this kind of FREE mapping technology during redistricting to help policy makers better understand and respect what we want and need in terms of representation.”
In order to ensure fair districts are drawn, New Mexicans are encouraged to submit their maps to keep communities of interest together and to ensure the maps do not give any side a partisan advantage. The Committee will listen to concerns from voters and make determinations based upon the public’s input, which makes attending these meetings extremely important.
Far-left extremist groups seeking to expand seats to fulfill their partisan advantage, such as the Center for Civic Policy, have proposed heavily gerrymandered maps that would cut communities of interest into sections and partition seats into strange shapes to meet a partisan advantage. One such map is Concept H, which is an extreme partisan gerrymander, making all three congressional districts in New Mexico solid blue by chopping up the South Valley of Albuquerque into the southern Second District and taking away the oil patch from the Second to add to the Third District, making it stretch all the way from Eddy and Lea Counties to Santa Fe and west to McKinley and San Juan Counties.
In the group’s state House and Senate maps, districts would be heavily gerrymandered to span across many counties. In the extremist dark money group’s state House plan, Clovis is chopped up into three districts while District 49 on the western side of the state would span four counties. District 67 would span five counties while many other districts have twisted shapes, indicating an extreme partisan gerrymander.
Citizens are encouraged to attend this vital meeting (in-person or via Zoom) to oppose these extreme gerrymandered plans, which are proposed and funded by dark money groups to skew the maps politically — a grave violation of the Committee’s purpose: to create fair maps.
Here are the meeting details:
The Citizen Redistricting Committee will hold a public meeting on Thursday, October 7, 2021 from 3pm to 7pm, to provide members of the public an opportunity to share public comment and testimony to the Committee on the proposed concepts of district maps for New Mexico’s offices to be redistricted.
Satellite locations that will be broadcasting this meeting and providing opportunities for public comment are as follows: TBA
To submit a public comment, or statewide district plan online, visit the CRC’s Public Redistricting Portal.
For in-person attendance at meetings:
Masks are required for those who have not been vaccinated and encouraged for those who have been vaccinated. You are also encouraged to practice social distancing.To attend the meeting virtually, please see the details below:
Agenda & Meeting Materials: https://www.nmredistricting.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Agenda-for-2021-10-07-CRC-Meeting-IPCC.pdf
Please click this URL to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83550539072
Webinar ID: 835 5053 9072
No Password
Dial-in Numbers:
+13462487799,,83550539072# US (Houston)
+16699009128,,83550539072# US (San Jose)
With it being offered in-person or virtually, there is NO reason you should not be in attendance. The future of our state relies on your action.
Legislative and congressional districts should as close to a square as possible.