Website allows public to draw, propose NM district maps
SANTA FE — The state’s new Citizen Redistricting Committee has launched a web portal that allows people to draw their own maps and submit written testimony.
The new site — nmredistricting.org — includes links to video training on how to use the map-making feature, but people can also jump right in and draw their own maps.
The program allows users to click on precincts or entire counties in New Mexico to paint the territory of proposed districts.
It keeps track of the population in each district as you draw and notes the ideal population, demonstrating how difficult it can be to keep the districts roughly equal.
The map has settings for New Mexico’s three-district congressional delegation, the 70-member state House and 42-person state Senate.
Users can also submit written comments on communities of interest and other topics.
The broader redistricting website also outlines the redistricting committee’s schedule of meetings — the next of which is online at 9 a.m. Friday.
The first in-person meeting is set for 3 p.m. Aug. 2 at the Capitol in Santa Fe.
A number of community advocacy groups, meanwhile, have launched their own campaign to educate people about the importance of redistricting.
In a news conference, some members of the “People’s Power, People’s Maps” campaign said they believe the work is especially vital given that no one from a Native American community was appointed to the redistricting committee.
“All we’re asking for is a fair process and fair maps,” said Ahtza Dawn Chavez, a member of the Navajo Nation and executive director of the NAVA Education Project, which focuses on Native American voters.
ETHICS COMPLAINT: A hearing officer for the State Ethics Commission last week dismissed the remaining portion — pending in that forum — of a complaint against House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe.
Two parts of the original complaint, however, were earlier referred to the Interim Legislative Ethics Committee, and they appear to be pending in that forum.
The internal panel of legislators meets privately, and it isn’t clear whether it will issue any public findings.
A spokesman for one of the panel’s members said the complaint is pending.
The complaint focused on Egolf’s work as a private attorney and his push for passage of the state Civil Rights Act.
Retired District Judge Sandra Price alleges Egolf and his law firm stand to benefit from the passage of the law. Egolf contends the complaint is baseless and was intended as a distraction to deter him from supporting the measure.