ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico voters approved a change Nov. 3 that could see school funding questions moved to general election ballots, which supporters say will increase turnout for these issues.
According to the unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office, the amendment received 66% of the vote.
Constitutional Amendment 2 removes the constitutional requirement to hold school elections separately from partisan elections. According to the secretary of state, the constitutional requirement for separate elections began with the creation of New Mexico’s constitution in 1910. Back then, women could vote only in school elections.
Because of this history, New Mexico has held school elections separately from partisan elections for more than a century.
“The League of Women Voters sued the state in 2015, and we won,” said Meredith Machen, education director for the League of Women Voters of New Mexico. “The Supreme Court acknowledged that women should be able to vote in all elections, so there was no reason to have separate elections for schools.”
The LWVNM challenged the state and paved the way for Constitutional Amendment 2 to appear on this year’s ballot. They are also fighting the long-standing low voter turnout due to these separate elections.
“Turnout is everything,” said Mason Graham, policy director for Common Cause. If people want a say in their local school board or school bonds, they have to vote, Graham said.
According to a legislative analysis, off-cycle elections like school elections, which are not aligned with major elections, see lower voter participation.
“I voted in favor because voter turnout is already so low,” said Sagan Couture, a Native New Mexican novelist.
Couture said he didn’t know much about the amendment until he got in the voting booth and looked it up on Google. He said having a separate election draws out the most passionate voters, with the most extreme views.
According to a voter guide published by the New Mexico Legislative Council Service, Constitutional Amendment 2 allows school funding questions to appear on the general ballot but does not automatically move school board member elections. Instead, it gives the New Mexico Legislature the authority to pass future laws to do so.
“Making sure that we have leaders that are going to put children and education first for the betterment of our community is definitely something everybody can get behind,” Graham said. “So these elections are important for really everybody.”
