An amendment on the ballot in New Mexico could pave the way for taxpayers saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in school elections across the state.
But critics say the wording of Constitutional Amendment 1 on the Nov. 4 ballot may so confuse voters they may end up simply skipping the question or even inadvertently vote the opposite of what they intend.
“I think it’s too bad we don’t value clear writing on the ballot,” said Gwyneth Doland, a part-time instructor of journalism at the University of New Mexico, who thinks too many ballot questions are written in overly lawyered terms that come at the expense of plain English.
Even the sponsor of Amendment 1 concedes as much.
“I think in retrospect it could have been phrased more clearly,” said state Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque.
Here’s how Constitutional Amendment 1 is worded:
Proposing to amend article 7, section 1 of the constitution of New Mexico to provide that school elections shall be held at different times from partisan elections.
The phrasing implies that school elections are currently held at the same time as partisan elections. They aren’t.
Instead, school elections in the state have long been held completely separately. They’re not conducted during November statewide elections and they’re not even held when municipal issues, such as bond questions, go before voters.
Why?
Before 1920, women didn’t have the right to vote in federal elections. To allow women in New Mexico to vote in school elections, the state constitution had school elections on a different date than federal elections.
In fact, to this day, school board elections in New Mexico can’t be held at the same time as ANY other election.
That’s what Amendment 1 tries to change. According to Ivey-Soto, the idea is to fix the state constitution by giving legislators the right to debate moving school board elections to align with municipal elections — something Ivey-Soto estimates could save taxpayers in the Albuquerque area alone between $300,000-$500,000.
“All this allows us to do is have a conversation that we can’t have otherwise.” Ivey-Soto said.
Since Amendment 1 concerns voting rights, to pass it requires the support of 75 percent of New Mexico voters instead of a simple majority.
