The right to petition is enshrined in the US Constitution, NM State Constitution, and Las Cruces City Charter. As part of the Bill of Rights, petitioning is one of the most basic rights that the government is sworn to uphold and protect, thereby providing an avenue by which people can request that the government address concerns and grievances. Our City Councilors and Mayor vowed to uphold the constitution and City charter when they took their oaths of office, yet their recent vote against the Realize Las Cruces petition is at odds with these vows.
Realize Las Cruces, an ordinance approved by City Council in February, is a sweeping policy change that overhauls the longstanding zoning code, removing single family residential zoning across much of the City and instead allowing high-density apartments and some businesses into existing neighborhoods. Per the City Charter, people are allowed to petition to have ordinances placed on the ballot for a vote by the public. To that end, I organized a petition drive to put Realize Las Cruces on the ballot so that the people would have a chance to vote on whether to allow such comprehensive changes to their neighborhoods. Per the City Charter, we were required to collect 3,240 signatures.
Las Cruces City Council hears testimony regarding zoning ordinance. Photo provided by Sarah Smith.
From the beginning, the City made the petition process as difficult as possible. They would not allow us to collect signatures electronically. They would not allow petition volunteers to use electronic copies of the 400-page ordinance, so instead all volunteers were required to carry bulky printed copies of the ordinance. That was over 30,000 pages to be printed at a cost of over $1,000.
Of our initial 30-day deadline, the City burned up a week of our time with delays in providing the petition form and providing false information about who was allowed to collect signatures. The City Attorneys finally acknowledged their error, yet they refused to give us back that week of time even though the City was at complete fault for delaying the petition and giving false information. Later, the City refused to provide timely answers to questions about signature collection dates during the allowed petition amendment process, and then they threw out over 1,200 signatures without even checking them on the voter rolls just because of the dates on which they were collected.
Hundreds of other signatures were unjustly thrown out by the City, as well. For instance, some people had a hard time writing due to being elderly or having shaky hands. In those instances, they signed the petition and then the volunteers filled in the address and printed name. These signatures were all thrown out by the City.
Some others signed the petition with their nickname (such as Bill instead of William, Gilbert instead of Gilberto, Fran instead of Francis, or Tim instead of Timothy). In each case, the voter could still clearly be identified in the voter roll by the remaining information provided, but the Clerk still invalidated those signatures. All of these people would be allowed to vote at the polls, yet their signatures were not counted as valid on the petition.
Overall, more than 1,500 people have been disenfranchised by having their signatures unjustly invalidated. We tried to follow the City’s processes, but they provided us with unclear instructions, false information, and a continually moving target. We collected 4,671 signatures, yet the City threw out over 1/3 of our signatures without due process and then ruled that our petition was insufficient. Those oaths to uphold the Constitution by Mayor Enriquez and Councilors Bencomo, Corran, Flores, Graham, and McClure look to be devoid of meaning, now.
Sarah Smith is a community advocate and homeschooling mother of two teens. She is also a natural healthcare practitioner and former NASA aerospace engineer. Sarah blogs about food and natural health at nourishedandnurturedlife.com. She can be reached at concernedfornm@gmail.com.
