Lujan Grisham signs voting rights bill

It ended last year with a filibuster, this year the Voting Rights Protections bill is now law

By: Austin Fisher, Megan Gleason and Shaun Griswold - March 30, 2023 12:12 pm

A dozen people stand in a semi-circle in a large rotunda in the center of the New Mexico Legislature. Six of them hold signs that together have 17,000 tally marks, representing the people in New Mexico denied the right to vote because of a felony conviction. They are surrounded by the polished stone walls of the Rotunda at the state capitol in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

During a news conference on the first day of the 2023 legislative session in the rotunda at the state capitol in Santa Fe, advocates held signs which together had 17,000 tally marks, each representing someone in New Mexico denied the right to vote as a result of a felony conviction. The new bill signed into law offers protections to allow people convicted of a felony the right to vote once they are released. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday morning signed House Bill 4 into law, which she said should serve as a model for other states and the federal government.

“This country’s not made voting for Native Americans, women and any number of individuals and groups readily accessible and protected, and it’s really an outrage,” Lujan Grisham said.

“I am very proud that this coalition, the legislature and the Secretary State have made it clear that this is codified in statute and will be the template for every other state in the country. And frankly, it ought to be in federal damn law.

“She said the legislation ought to be motivating the U.S. Congress to pass similar provisions in federal law, “so that no state can roll it back.”

It took a lot to get to this point. And there is plenty to follow now to see how this new law will be applied in the run up to our next elections in 2024. As you’ll see in the reporting below, Source New Mexico has followed this bill for two years and will continue to report on the ramifications of this law and efforts to protect, or disarm, voting rights in the United States.

Voting rights expansion bill heads to governor

NM Sen. Sharer blocked voting rights by talking so much, no one else could

Secretary of State talks details of NM’s Voting Rights Act

Congressional elections panel hears from New Mexico voting rights advocates

Secretary of State’s Office combats unbased fears of election fraud as more early voting locations open this weekend

Over 17,000 New Mexicans barred from voting in the midterms, report shows

Indigenous voters often drive long distances to cast ballots in both tribal and state elections

General election certified in NM counties that previously resisted

The New Mexico Voting Rights Act is coming back, lawmakers and advocates say

The New Mexico Voting Rights Act: What’s in and what’s out

Lawmakers get closer to passing bill that would expand voting rights and accessibility

Restoration of voting rights is critical to reintegrating back into society

State election officials at U.S. Senate hearing discuss threats to workers, call for funding

The two people behind the election denial movement in New Mexico

Fact-checking the Clements’ stolen election allegations

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Austin Fisher

Austin Fisher is a journalist based in Santa Fe. He has worked for newspapers in New Mexico and his home state of Kansas, including the Topeka Capital-Journal, the Garden City Telegram, the Rio Grande SUN and the Santa Fe Reporter. Since starting a full-time career in reporting in 2015, he’s aimed to use journalism to lift up voices that typically go unheard in public debates around economic inequality, policing and environmental racism.

Megan Gleason

Megan Gleason is a journalist based in Albuquerque. She recently graduated from the University of New Mexico, where she served as the editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo. Other work has appeared under the New Mexico Press Association as well as in the Independent, Gallup Sun and Silver City Daily Press.

Shaun Griswold

Shaun Griswold is a journalist in Albuquerque. He is a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna, and his ancestry also includes Jemez and Zuni on the maternal side of his family. He grew up in Albuquerque and Gallup. He brings a decade of print and broadcast news experience. Shaun reports on issues important to Native Americans in urban and tribal communities throughout the state, including education and child welfare.