Better Together New Mexico announced on April 12 that New Mexicans have begun the referendum process on five bills passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM).
"Since the Secretary of State has taken office, she has exceeded her authority and has illegally stopped over 50 bills from being put up for referendum,” Larry ‘Lead’ Marker, an independent write-in candidate for New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands, said in a Better Together New Mexico press release. “She has continually violated New Mexicans' enumerated constitutional right to refer egregious laws to the ballot. With the help of the grassroots movement, this ends now.”
If approved by Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver (D-NM), there "will be a large community effort to acquire the needed number of signatures to allow the people of the state to vote on these issues in the 2024 election," according to the press release. Groups involved in the effort are Change Course New Mexico, the Library Guild, NMET (New Mexico Transparency) Network, Right to Life and One Name One Banner, among others.
Better Together reported that if 25% of those who voted in the last general election sign the petition within 90 days of the session's closing date, the law will be stopped from taking effect until there is a vote on the issue in 2024. However, if this number of signatures is not obtained within the given time frame, those gathering signatures will have until four months prior to the 2024 election to gather signatures from 10% of those who voted in the last general election to have the issue put on the ballot, but the law will still go into effect until that time.
Some organizations working on the initiative to gather signatures for a referendum on five bills passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor have faced difficulties in getting their petitions approved by Oliver's office, and they have accused her of putting up unnecessary roadblocks and denying petitions for trivial reasons, such as missing punctuation marks. They suggest that Oliver is "hindering the rights of New Mexicans to vote on these issues."
“If the New Mexico Secretary of State cared about preserving the people’s rights, she would be helping and not hindering this process,” Ramona Goolsby of the Library Guild said in the Better Together New Mexico press release. “The New Mexico Constitution Art. IV Sec. 1 ‘reserves the power (of New Mexicans) to disapprove, suspend and annul any law enacted by the Legislature’… with some exceptions.”
The bills being challenged for a referendum vote involve parental rights in major life-changing decisions for their children, such as gender transition or abortion. Another proposes drastic changes to the election laws in New Mexico. Those bills include House Bill 7, Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care; Senate Bill 397, School-Based Health Centers; SB 13, Reproductive Health Provider Protections; HB 4, Voting Rights Protections; and SB 180, Election Changes.
There were more than 440,000 emails and phone calls opposing the five bills, Better Together New Mexico reported.
“New Mexicans are obviously passionate about parental rights and secure elections. It’s time to allow New Mexicans the right to vote directly on whether or not these bills remain as laws or if they are repealed,” the press release said.
Better Together New Mexico is a statewide nonpartisan alliance of people seeking a "better path forward for our state," according to the agency's website.