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SANTA FE COUNTY CLERK’S OFFICE -  How Redistricting Affects You

April 11, 2011 - Valerie Espinoza, Santa Fe County Clerk, would like voters to know that redistricting is in progress. At the beginning of April, Research and Polling, Inc., the company contracted by the New Mexico Legislature to help with redistricting, published its Preliminary Redistricting Information (http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/redcensus2010/preredinfo.aspx). Based on the 2010 United States Census, the information provides data and maps showing the population gains and losses for the US congressional districts, state house and senate districts, Public Regulation Commission (PRC) districts, and county commission districts. The information is the beginning point for redrawing the boundaries for these districts. As a result of redistricting, your polling place, precinct, and districts may change.

Redistricting cannot happen, however, until NM counties make necessary changes to precinct boundaries. Why do boundaries change? The most common reason is that the population of an area has grown so fast that the precinct must be split into two. Many polling places in Santa Fe County have multiple precincts: at some time in the past, the original precinct was probably split into two.

Other reasons may be that the boundaries do not comply with census criteria. It helps to have clearly recognizable, permanent geographical features as boundaries (such as roads, railroads, and rivers) to make compact precincts. In Santa Fe, De Vargas Middle School Precinct 51, and Capshaw Middle School Precincts 37 and 54 will use St. Francis Dr. instead of the railroad as a major boundary. The former railroad boundary gave the precincts oddly shaped areas with few, if any, residences.

Finally the county does take into consideration the needs of the voters. Members of the Nambe Tribe wanted their own polling place, similar to those of San Ildefonso Pueblo and Tesuque Pueblo. In 2009, the county redrew the boundaries of Precincts 23 and 61 to create our newest precinct, Nambe Tribal Precinct 87.

Once the boundaries have been agreed upon by county technicians from several departments, they must be approved by the County Commission and the Secretary of State. In September, the NM Legislature takes over the process of redrawing congressional, state legislative, and PRC district boundaries based on the population of the precincts. The legislators’ job is to try and even out the three sets of districts according to population. The legislators must use whole precincts—not portions of them—in their reapportionment.

For congressional and PRC districts, the Legislature’s main job is to redraw the boundaries. But for state senators and representatives, the process is different. Some districts will be combined because of population loss or very low growth. On the other hand, areas that experienced a lot of population growth, such as Rio Rancho, may gain more districts.

No matter what happens at the county or state level in redistricting, rest assured that the County Clerk’s Office will inform affected voters if their precinct, district(s), or polling place changes.