New Mexico 2020 ballot measures

2020 U.S. state ballot measures
2021 » « 2019
Overview
Scorecard
Tuesday Count
Deadlines
Requirements
Lawsuits
Readability
Voter guides
Election results
Year-end analysis
Campaigns
Polls
Media editorials
Filed initiatives
Finances
Contributions
Signature costs
Ballot Measure Monthly
Signature requirements
Have you subscribed yet? Join the hundreds of thousands of readers trusting Ballotpedia to keep them up to date with the latest political news. Sign up for the Daily Brew. Click here to learn more.

Five statewide ballot measures were certified to appear on the ballot in New Mexico on November 3, 2020. Voters approved all five measures.

On the ballot[edit]

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment 1	Government	Makes the Public Regulation Commission a three-member appointed commission	a
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment 2	Elections	Amends the New Mexico Constitution to allow for laws that adjust the date of election and term for non-statewide officeholders	a
BI	Bond Question A	Bond issues	Issues $33.3 million in bonds for senior citizen facility improvements	a
BI	Bond Question B	Bond issues	Issues $9.7 million in bonds for public libraries	a
BI	Bond Question C	Bond issues	Issues $156.3 million in bonds for public higher education institutions, special public schools, and tribal schools	a

Summary of campaign contributions[edit]

See also: Ballot measure campaign finance, 2020

The following chart illustrates how much support and opposition committees received in campaign contributions for each measure on the ballot:

Ballot Measure	Support Contributions	Oppose Contributions	Outcome
New Mexico Bond Question A, Senior Citizens Facilities Bond Issue (2020)	$0.00	$0.00
New Mexico Bond Question B, Public Libraries Bond Issue (2020)	$0.00	$0.00
New Mexico Bond Question C, Public Education Bond Issue (2020)	$275,350.00	$0.00
New Mexico Constitutional Amendment 1, Appointed Public Regulation Commission Amendment (2020)	$745,000.00	$0.00
New Mexico Constitutional Amendment 2, Elections and Terms of Non-Statewide Officeholders Amendment (2020)	$0.00	$0.00

Getting measures on the ballot[edit]

Citizens[edit]

In New Mexico, citizens have the power to initiate veto referendums, which seek to repeal legislation, but not initiatives, which seek to enact legislation. Electors approved the power to initiate veto referendums in the state's constitution on November 5, 1911, which went into effect when New Mexico became a state on January 6, 1912.

Legislature[edit]

The New Mexico State Legislature can refer statewide ballot measures, in the form of constitutional amendments and bond issue, to the ballot.

New Mexico requires a simple majority vote in each legislative chamber during one legislative session to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 36 votes in the New Mexico House of Representatives and 22 votes in the New Mexico Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

Bond issues require a simple majority vote in each legislative chamber during one legislative session and the governor's signature to appear on the ballot. Bills proposing bond issues require the governor's signature for the bond issues to go on the ballot. The governor can use a partial veto to remove projects from bond legislation. In New Mexico, general obligation bonds require voter approval.

Referral of 2020 constitutional amendment[edit]

The following table illustrates the vote requirements for the constitutional amendment certified for the ballot, the votes the amendment received, and how Democrats and Republicans voted on the amendment in each legislative chamber:

Historical facts[edit]

See also: List of New Mexico ballot measures

Between 1995 and 2018, the following occurred:

• Ballots featured 97 ballot measures.
• An average of eight measures appeared on even-year ballots in New Mexico.
• An average of four to five constitutional amendments appeared on even-year ballots in New Mexico.
• An average of three to four bond measures appeared on even-year ballots in New Mexico.
• Voters approved 87 percent (84 of 97) and rejected 13 percent (13 of 97) of the ballot measures.
• Voters approved 85 percent (47 of 55) and rejected 15 percent (eight of 55) of the constitutional amendments.
• Voters approved 88 percent (37 of 42) and rejected 12 percent (five of 42) of the bond measures.
• There were zero veto referendums on the ballot.

Not on the ballot[edit]

See also: Proposed ballot measures that were not on a ballot

The list below contains measures that were proposed and reached a certain stage in the initiative or referral process, but did not make the ballot.

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
VR	Background Checks for Firearm Sales Referendum	Firearms	Would have repealed Senate Bill 8, which expanded background checks on firearm sales
LRCA	Land Grant Permanent Fund Distribution for Pre-Kindergarten Education Amendment	Budgets	Distributions from the Land Grant Permanent Fund for pre-kindergarten educational services
LRCA	Surviving Spouse of First Responder Tax Exemption Amendment	Taxes	Property tax exemption for surviving spouses of first responders
LRCA	Public Officer Salary Commission Amendment	Salaries	Commission to determine salaries for officials
LRCA	Runoff Elections Amendment	Elections	Statewide runoff elections
LRCA	College Regent Nominating Committees Amendment	Education	College regent nominating committees
LRCA	Counties Allowed to Request Probate Court Elimination Amendment	Municipal	Counties to request that their probate court be eliminated
LRCA	Funding for Early Childhood Programs Amendment	State budget and Education	Funds devoted to early childhood programs from the Land Grant Permanent Fund
LRCA	Appellate Judges Nominating Commission Amendment	State judiciary and Administration of government	Dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law designee to serve in their place on the Appellate Judges Nominating Commission

State profile[edit]

Presidential voting pattern[edit]

See also: Presidential voting trends in New Mexico

New Mexico voted for the Democratic candidate in five out of the six presidential elections between 2000 and 2020.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, three are located in New Mexico, accounting for 1.46 percent of the total pivot counties.^[1]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. New Mexico had three Retained Pivot Counties, 1.66 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More New Mexico coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in New Mexico
• United States congressional delegations from New Mexico
• Public policy in New Mexico
• Influencers in New Mexico
• New Mexico fact checks
• More...

See also[edit]

• 2020 ballot measures
• List of New Mexico ballot measures
• Laws governing the initiative process in New Mexico
• New Mexico Legislature

External links[edit]

• New Mexico Secretary of State

Footnotes[edit]

	v • e State of New Mexico Santa Fe (capital)
Elections	What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2022 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures
Government	Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy