New Mexico Right2Vote Bill Passes the House, Now We Prepare for the Senate

Like every state, New Mexico is a battle ground full of its own complicated layers and complex processes in government. I was shocked by the structure of the New Mexican legislature with a biennium session that last only 60 days! New Mexicans have only two months to draft, promote, advocate for, revise, schedule a hearing and pass initiatives through the state’s legislative process. This must all be done while competing with the hundreds of other bills being forced into that small window. After eight years of ‘tough on crime’ Republican Governor Martinez passing hurtful policies now a record number of criminal justice, medical and education reforms are pouring into Congress. HB 57, to restore the right to vote to individuals immediately upon their release from prison, is one of the many reforms that people are trying to see passed within the two month window. This makes grassroots organizing difficult, but not at all impossible.

This weekend I took the trip to New Mexico to meet with Millions for Prisoners organizers sponsoring the bill along with members from the large cohort of groups that support HB 57 which include ALCU-NM, DMOS, League of Women Voters, Progressive Democrats of America, Retake Our Democracy and Strong Families-NM among others. I went to witness the second hearing the house, assigned for the Judiciary committee headed by our bill’s sponsor Gail Chasey for a vote. Since the session began mid-January Millions for Prisoners has been pushing through every obstacle that came their way. HB 57 passed the first committee in the first week of the session but had been stalled until now with less than two weeks left in the session for its second hearing.

With so much happening in the last couple of weeks of the legislative session, the committee hearing started late with the room with packed full of reporters, lobbyists and concerned citizens. HB 57 was fourth on the schedule, sponsored by Gail Chasey the House judiciary committee chair with Selinda Guerrero sitting by her side as the bill’s expert witness. Guerrero began speaking to the committee recognizing the voices of those who unable to be present do to their incarceration or parole restrictions which prevent them from leaving their counties to visit the state capitol, which is known as one of the most accessible in the country. HB 57 was originally supposed to be heard by the Judiciary committee on Friday March 1st, but was rescheduled to Monday. Many formally incarcerated supporters of the bill who were able to come to the original hearing after getting the date of proved to by their parole officers were unable to attend after the hearing was reschedule with such short notice.

Supporters Show Up in the Dozens

After Chasey & Guerrero’s initial statements the floor with open for those who were present testify in opposition or in support. Similar to the first hearing, there was only one voice in opposition from the District Attorney’s office. Once the floor was open to those in support, myself along dozens of others testified. Those in support included the Secretary of State, Maggie Toulouse Oliver, who shared her concern with the current system that the District Attorney advocated for in their opposition which requires the Department of Corrections to notify clerk offices of prisoners voting status. The Secretary of State informed the committee that after over ten years of relying on the DOC their notification system was not at all working. Reports from to the clerk office from DOC we’re regularly full of inaccuracies showing some individuals having their voting rights restricted when that was not the case. Paul Haidle, policy analyst from the ACLU-NM, conquered with the Secretary of State’s comments adding his experience working with a formally incarcerated client who’d who’d been unlawfully denied his voting rights by the clerks office for failure to present the proper paperwork. Haidle’s powerful testimony illustrated the lengths some are forced to go just to vote, “it should not take and attorney to restore your right to vote”.

Millions for Prisoners-NM Chapter founder Selinda Guerro and I before HB 57 hearing

After dozens of people shared their support the committee was left with the overwhelming consensus that New Mexico desperately needs to simplify the voter restoration process, like so many other states where thousands of people are effectively disenfranchised because of the complex processes of paperwork and notifications required to prove one’s right. It reminds me of the days during the Jim Crow era where free blacks were required to walk around with paperwork in order to prove that they were free citizens or else they could be lawfully enslaved. Similarly, Today the burden of proof lies on formerly incarcerated individuals to obtain the documents necessary to as evidence for their restored rights or they could be lawfully denied their voting rights.

After everyone testified the committee members voted on the bill pass the House with a majority vote 9 to 3! Of the votes in favor Speaker of the House Representative Brian Egolf, who has the largest prison in New Mexico as a part of his district, noted that the bodies we count to make up our seat should have a vote. Both he, along with Representatives Micaela Lara Cadena and Dayan Hochman-Vigil voiced their strong support for the original bill that included restoring the votes of incarcerated individuals along with those on parole. Representative Damon Eli shared that, “If we trust them enough to come back into society, we should trust them to vote”. Organizers were forced to compromise in the interest of getting the bill moved forward to the Senate, Organizers behind the walls in NM said, “it is not what we hoped for, but it is progress. This also allows us to continue the conversation about disenfranchisement.” Out of the three descending opinions the only one to voice his reasoning was Representative James G. Townsend who stated that while he appreciated hearing the perspectives of all those in the room he voted in opposition, “in the interest public safety”. This was a ridiculous excuse seeing as how dozens of members in the public had just voiced their feeling favorable, and not at all unsafe, about having those directly impacted by incarcerating voting.

Moving Forward to the Senate

As organizers prepare to present their case to the Senate, they are working on another National letter in addition to the one from DMOS for all house members before the floor vote which would ideally be scheduled in the next couple of days. The bill is most likely to be assigned to the Senate’s Judiciary Committee and with the support of voting champion Senator Daniel Ivy Soto we are confident that with Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s support we will successfully cross the finish line. To raise awareness and galvanize the public, on Thursday, March 7th at the Roundhouse the ACLU-NM will be hosting an event, End Mass Incarceration Lobby Day. Along with this the NMSafe team will be receiving a certificate of recognition for this movement. For those that are able to attend the event please specifically lobby Senators for HB 57. For those that are unable to attend please continue to help lobby specifically targeting centrist dems in the House and all Senators, specifically those on the Judiciary Committee in the Senate along with Governor Grisham. You can call or email using the contacts listed here.

The Office of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is located on the 4th floor of the New Mexico State Capitol in Room 400. Address: 490 Old Santa Fe Trail Room 400 Santa Fe, NM 87501 Phone: (505) 476-2200


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