HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 10

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2025

INTRODUCED BY

Cristina Parajón

 

 

 

 

 

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE HIGHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO STUDY MEANS AND STRATEGIES TO CREATE LIFELONG VOTERS.

 

     WHEREAS, automatic voter registration is a policy in which residents can quickly register to vote through interactions with state agencies and, most commonly, when renewing their driver's licenses; and

     WHEREAS, automatic voter registration removes barriers to registration for eligible voters; and

     WHEREAS, in 2019, the legislature passed Senate Bill 672, which provided same-day and automatic voter registration; and

     WHEREAS, pursuant to the Election Code, any qualified resident may register to vote and shall become a voter upon the resident's eighteenth birthday; and

     WHEREAS, according to the United States census bureau, younger voters, particularly people age eighteen to twenty- four, tend to vote at lower rates than the general population; and

     WHEREAS, according to the national election pool, young voters cast only fourteen percent of all ballots during the 2024 election; and

     WHEREAS, a 2020 analysis by Tufts university indicated that youth voter registration was higher in states that have automatic voter registration; and

     WHEREAS, schools and educational institutions are vital for encouraging civic engagement and for energizing students to participate in democracy; and

     WHEREAS, the state must increase its efforts to encourage voting and civic engagement in the student bodies of its public schools, colleges and universities; and

     WHEREAS, high school and higher educational institution voter registration programs, including those that provide automatic voter registration, can be an effective way to foster voter participation, civic duty and the civic responsibility of voting in students;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the higher education department, in consultation with political scientists, be requested to study the role of public institutions in civic engagement, particularly voting, and the means and strategies to encourage high school and higher education students to become lifelong voters; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the higher education department be requested to use the findings of this study to draft a legislative proposal to address youth voter turnout; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of public education, the secretary of higher education and the secretary of state.

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