HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 20

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2010

INTRODUCED BY

James Roger Madalena

A JOINT MEMORIAL

RECALLING THE HISTORY OF VOTING RIGHTS ISSUES THAT NATIVE AMERICAN NATIONS, PUEBLOS AND TRIBES HAVE WEATHERED IN NEW MEXICO AND URGING COUNTY GOVERNMENTS TO ENSURE THAT THEY COMPLY WITH FEDERAL LAW REGARDING NATIVE AMERICAN VOTING RIGHTS.

     WHEREAS, Native Americans across the United States were granted citizenship status on June 2, 1924; and

     WHEREAS, even so, a Pueblo of Isleta veteran of World War II was denied the right to vote in state elections in 1948; and

     WHEREAS, the case against the Pueblo of Isleta man was built on state language prohibiting "Indians not taxed" from voting; and

     WHEREAS, in the case of Trujillo v. Garvey, the state district court held that Native Americans in New Mexico are allowed to vote despite the constitutional language of the time; and

     WHEREAS, in 1953, legislators first attempted to change the state constitution's language that excluded Native Americans from the right to vote in state elections; and

     WHEREAS, that constitutional change was not approved until 1967, nearly twenty years later, well after congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, by which racial discrimination in voting was prohibited across the country; and

     WHEREAS, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, prohibited "denial or abridgment" of the right to vote by, for example, turning eligible voters away from the polls, charging a poll tax or requiring a constitutional literacy test of minority voters; and

     WHEREAS, the 1965 act follows the language of the fifteenth amendment to the United States constitution, which was adopted just after the Civil War and contains special enforcement provisions targeted at those areas of the country where congress believed the potential for discrimination was greatest; and

     WHEREAS, states with a history of racial discrimination in voting were prohibited from making any change without the approval of the attorney general or a District of Columbia court, based on a judgment of whether the proposed change had a discriminatory purpose or would have a discriminatory effect; and

     WHEREAS, ultimately, several counties in New Mexico were put under the same special enforcement provisions that were applied to the south; and

     WHEREAS, these special enforcement provisions allowed the United States attorney general to send election monitors to monitor state elections in counties with Native American voters; and

     WHEREAS, since 1975, various New Mexico counties have remained within the federal monitoring system for Native American voting rights violations; and

     WHEREAS, for thirty-five of the forty-two years since 1967, when the state recognized the right of tribal members to vote in state elections, New Mexico has been under the scrutiny of the federal government for its violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and

     WHEREAS, under the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982, the counties of Sandoval, Bernalillo, Cibola, McKinley and Socorro were identified for federal monitoring from July 1982 through 2004 for redistricting plans, precinct boundaries and polling places in Indian country; and

     WHEREAS, certain tribes and pueblos still face barriers to voting from county commissions, which have continued to read New Mexico law narrowly and to enforce agreements loosely; and

     WHEREAS, contracts ending the monitoring in January 2009 require counties to make all phases of the election process accessible to the Native American populations;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that county commissions and county attorneys be urged to comply with the letter and spirit of the monitoring agreements made with the federal government to prevent discrimination and to make voting accessible to all of the eligible two hundred thousand Native Americans living in New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that county governments recognize the federal government's view that counties are still obligated to prevent discrimination, even after monitoring is lifted; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all county governments read and understand the voting rights provisions of New Mexico law; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the leadership of all New Mexico tribes, nations and pueblos; the governor; the secretary of Indian affairs; the county attorney and county commission of every New Mexico county; and the voting rights section of the civil rights division of the department of justice.

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