New Mexico

New Mexico allows veto referendums and requires voter approval of constitutional amendments and bond issues proposed by the legislature but does not allow the initiative. The veto referendum was enacted as part of the state’s constitution when it entered the union in 1912. Interestingly, New Mexico is the only continental Western state without the initiative process.

I&R was in the air in 1910 when the then-territory held its Constitutional Convention, and progressive reformers hoped to include I&R in the Constitution. Although the I&R advocates had an apparent majority of the 100 delegates (23 Democrats, 19 Democrats, Populists & Fusionists, and at least a dozen independent Republicans), the convention’s Republican leaders were opposed to I&R. The delegates were also subject to considerable pressure from powerful interest groups. One was the Santa Fe Ring, an informal cabal of wealthy elites and politicians of mostly Anglo descent that had poured into New Mexico following the tracks of the new rail lines; they hoped that statehood would allow their allegedly fraudulent land claims to be legitimized. Another powerful interest was the Catholic Church, the largest provider of religious education, which was opposed to free public education. A large Hispanic population was also concerned with education and calling for Spanish an official language.

George Judson King, a leader of the national I&R movement who visited New Mexico while the convention was in progress, described the situation as typical:

“It is the same story here as in every state, people for it, corporations against it, politicians trying to straddle the issue and save their scalps.”

The convention kept no transcripts or records, so the deals that were struck are largely hidden from view. But it appears that the progressive Republicans agreed to drop their push for I&R in exchange for support for their pet proposal, a constitutional provision mandating popular election of state supreme court justices and corporation commissioners.

The state’s veto referendum process is difficult to use. Petitioners must collect signatures equal to 10 percent of the votes cast in the previous gubernatorial election overall and 10 percent in three-quarters of the state’s 33 counties. Moreover, it takes not just a majority of those who vote on the referendum to overturn a law, but also 40 percent of all voters.

As a result, only three referendums have come before the voters in the state’s history: a 1930 measure that successfully repealed a 2 cents per-pack tax on cigarettes; and two measures (in 1950 and 1964) that failed to repeal a law on voting procedures at party nominating conventions. The 1950 and 1964 referendums received a majority of votes in favor but failed to meet the 40 percent quorum.

Although the state has little in the way of I&R, direct democracy is still alive and well because the constitution requires popular approval for constitutional amendments and bond issues proposed by the legislature. From 1956 to 2022, there were 300 ballot measures in the state, 227 constitutional amendments, and 73 bond proposals. This means that New Mexico voters are called on to decide about 5 issues on average on a typical general election ballot in even-numbered years.