By Matthew Reichbach
The original Gerrymander - 1812
Brian Sanderoff didn’t say it in so many words but the implication was clear – not all of the legislators’ seats will survive this year. This means that there could be potential races between two incumbents in 2012.
When asked by a lawmaker if his firm, Research and Polling, Inc. had created legislative maps that would not put two incumbents in the same district Sanderoff said they did but did not put it online because they were “too embarrassed to put them on the website.”
The districts were too gerrymandered to be of any real use though Sanderoff said “We’ll be glad to share it for comic relief.”
In other words, don’t count on incumbents being fully protected in the new maps.
This is because while New Mexico’s population grew 13.2 percent between the 2000 and 2010 censuses, the growth was not even throughout the state. The most explosive growth occurred in Albuquerque’s Westside and Rio Rancho. Meanwhile portions of northeast and southeast New Mexico couldn’t keep up with the growth and are in danger of losing seats to Albuquerque.
The meeting outlined the principles in which they must follow in creating districts for congressional districts, state House and Senate districts and other districts throughout the state. The two main principles are to make the districts close to equal in the amount of voters in each district and to follow Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act.
The section reads:
SEC. 2. No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.
Attorneys Luis Stelzner and Michael Browde, and Brian Sanderoff, president of Research and Polling, Inc., are assisting the state legislature with the redistricting process.
“With respect to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, it is a federal mandate that you do not dilute the voting power of ethnic or language minority groups,” Browde told the redistricting committee. These include Hispanics, Native Americans and African-Americans.
The districts “must give minority voting populations an opportunity to make their choice.”
Sanderoff unveiled a series of conceptual congressional maps for New Mexico. While New Mexico had growth in the last decade it did not grow fast enough to be awarded a fourth congressional district.
Congressional districts must be changed to be as close as possible to even which means that the 1st Congressional District, which is centered around Bernalillo County, is too large by 15,546 residents and the 3rd Congressional District, which covers northern New Mexico, is 6,891 over the ideal district population. The 2nd Congressional District, meanwhile, is 22,437 people under the ideal district population.
These numbers come from dividing the 2,059,179 residents of New Mexico, according to the 2010 census, by three.
Sanderoff unveiled eight maps which he said he hoped would promote discussion. When talking about Concept Map D, he misspoke and said it was intended to provoke – however the slip of the tongue might be accurate considering the radical changes it would make.
The Concept D map would place Rio Rancho and Albuquerque in the same congressional district and move the South Valley, a traditional Democratic stronghold, to the 2nd Congressional District. When Sanderoff outlined the changes the crowd in the room audibly gasped.
The map would also move Cibola, Catron, Torrance, Guadalupe and DeBaca counties as well as parts of Socorro and Roosevelt counties into the 3rd Congressional District.
The map would also have all of Valencia and part of Bernalillo county moved into the 2nd Congressional District.
Other unlikely maps were shown just to promote discussion. This included one district which would put Eastern New Mexico into the 2nd Congressional District.
While Research and Polling put forward the eight concepts the committee would have a say in the maps and the Legislature and governor would have the final say in the districts that have the potential to shift political power for the next decade and potentially longer.
The current maps are actually largely based on the maps passed by the legislature in 1991 after then-governor Gary Johnson, a Republican, vetoed the districts passed by the legislature. A judge then drew the boundaries to state House and congressional districts by changing the districts as little as possible.
The state Senate boundaries were created later after a legislative compromise because the state Senate was not up for election until 2004.
While there must be “almost absolute equality” in congressional districts, Browde told the committee, “that rigidity is not required” when it comes to the state districts.
The rule of thumb is that districts can be within plus or minus five percent of the ideal population.
Sanderoff later said that legislators can legally use the plus or minus five percent number as long is it isn’t “for an evil reason.” That is, no gerrymandered districts.
One big concern from legislators on the committee came from possible litigation over the districts.
Attorney Luis Stelzner told the committee that the litigation in the 2001 redistricting cost the state over $3.5 million.
Any voter in New Mexico can challenge the finished maps and a number of committee-members spoke about limiting the cost. Speaker of the House Ben Lujan, D-Nambe, said that in 2001 attorneys, consultants and others from outside the state collected legal fees from the state after the litigation over the redistricting.
This was the first of nine meetings of the committee throughout the state. The final meeting will also be in Santa Fe on August 31 where the committee will seek to approve maps for the special session to choose from.
In 2001, there were 14 public meetings. However the redistricting committee had its budget reduced after Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed $100,000 in funding for the redistricting committee.
The 18-member committee is made up of11 Democrats and seven Republicans. Another 23 lawmakers serve as non-voting advisory members.
The redistricting process faces a completion deadline of October 1. That is the date when petitions to appear on the primary ballot can begin to be circulated. Candidates will need to know which district they are running.
The committee may ask Governor Susana Martinez to issue a special session on either September 6, the day after Labor Day, or September 12. Some committee-members expressed concern that the Santa Fe Fiestas would drive up the price of hotels for legislators not within driving distance of Santa Fe.