As the dust settles from election night and New Mexico begins to assess the changes coming to our state, NMBC is taking a look at Constitutional Amendment 2, which received significantly less media coverage, and what it’s recent approval will mean for voters and elected officials. Constitutional Amendment 2 amended section 3 of Article XX of the state constitution to allow the legislature to pass laws that adjust non-statewide office holder elections and terms in order to balance the number of offices appearing on the presidential and gubernatorial general election ballots.
So what does this mean for voters going forward? It will adjust future ballots to be slightly more balanced. For example, instead of having district judicial races which currently all occur in the same voting cycle, they will be spaced out to appear evenly every 2 years instead of all at once like they did this year. This will make ballots shorter and according to proponents of the amendment, easier to use. But how will the terms of elected officials be adjusted? Unfortunately, as a result of this amendment, some incumbent officeholders will gain and extra two years in office, while others’ terms will expire two years early for reasons unrelated to their performance. How this will affect future races and simplify overloaded ballots is yet to be seen, and the benefit to voters also remains unclear. Supporters and opponents of the amendment have valid arguments, but now that it has passed New Mexicans just have to wait and see how it’s implementation plays out. For more information on CA 2 click HERE.