Democracy

New Mexico is the last state to utilize a “Citizen Legislature” – meaning our elected officials in the Roundhouse are not paid a salary. This may have made sense when our state was founded, but the system no longer serves our communities and CCP is proud to be a part of the efforts to modernize our legislative bodies and infrastructure. We support efforts like increasing capacity with paid internal staff, which is new this year, amending New Mexico’s constitution to create a citizen commission on legislative salaries, and increasing the length of our legislative sessions to ensure important bills and policies are not stalled or curtailed.

Voters should feel safe when they cast their votes – full stop. The Center for Civic Policy supports New Mexico’s Secretary of State and our state’s Voter Bill of Rights and will continue our work to fight disinformation and voter intimidation. CCP supports our community partners who train poll watchers and poll monitors, increasing the safety and credibility of our elections. 

In 2023, the Center for Civic Policy worked with a powerful coalition to pass the New Mexico Voting Rights Act, which sought to restore the voting rights of previously incarcerated people, increase access to voting for tribal communities, make voter registration easier, and expand voters’ options to cast their ballot. The coalition successfully helped get this critical legislation passed, including the first ever Native American Voting Rights Act, and is still following the implementation of this legislation.