The Edgewood Commission during a Jan. 8 special meeting approved an all mail-in ballot special election that will allow voters the chance to determine the outcome of the anti-abortion ordinance that was passed last year.
Town commissioners met to approve a proclamation to call for a referendum vote, in which voters will be able to weigh in on whether to keep the ordinance.
The ordinance, which was adopted in April 2023, bans the distribution of abortion medications or equipment through mail. Hobbs, Clovis, Roosevelt and Lea counties passed similar anti-abortion ordinances and defended the measure with the Comstock Act of 1873, which deemed it illegal to send contraceptives by mail.
Unlike voters in other municipalities and county governments, Edgewood voters secured enough signatures to force a special election to repeal the town ordinance. By law, the ordinance is paused pending the outcome of that special election. Attempts to schedule the election have run into numerous procedural and scheduling hurdles including certification by county and state election officials who have been reluctant to allow healthcare citizen petitions on the ballot, citing constitutional provisions governing healthcare.
Civic duty
“We received a valid petition for a referendum months ago and that deadline was missed,” said Commissioner Jerry Powers during the meeting. “Now we are in the next window, and this is the last window in 2024, so we have a statutory duty to call this.”
During the discussion, the commission viewed the referendum statutes which state that any special election in New Mexico must be through an all mail-in ballot. Commissioner Sterling Donner raised the question of whether the secretary of state would turn down the special election.
“We are carrying out our duty to have this all mail-in ballot election as soon as possible,” said Frank Coppler, a Santa Fe lawyer who the town uses as a contract legal advisor. “I couldn’t speculate as to what the secretary of state may or may not do but as a practical matter, this is a local election. My suggestion is to adopt the proclamation.”
The commission attempted to run the question on the Regular Local Election ballot, but it was rejected after Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said it had no legal effect on state laws.
“We wanted to be on the November ballot, but the secretary of state said it was more of an advisory question and we couldn’t do it,” said Mayor Ken Brennan. “The state statute says it’s got to be a mail-in ballot, I would rather it not be a mail-in ballot because it is expensive, but the way the current state law is, we have to do it that way.”
The Toulouse Oliver’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The commission moved forward with a unanimous vote approving the special election to put the adoption of the ordinance up for vote. The expected cost of the election is $36,000.
Former commissioner, Audrey Jaramillo, voiced her opinion that the commission’s approval was rushed.
“I’m curious as to why we are not waiting to hear not only what the legislature will bring this session where we would be able to avoid all the costs to the town, as well as continuing the divide and division in our community,” Jaramillo said. “Until we hear more from the court systems, I think this is very premature and I wish the commission would have waited. Unfortunately, here we go with more divide in the community.”
Coppler explained whether it was a wise decision to pass the ordinance is no longer important because the referendum needed approval.
“The horse has left the barn,” Coppler said. “Once that ordinance was passed and that petition was filed, we are required to follow the referendum law that applies to the county commission manager forms of government. It is, in my view as a legal matter, too late to argue that we need to slow down and not carry out our duty.”
Even though the commission approved this special election, the final decision will likely be decided by federal court.
In the courts hands
The New Mexico Supreme Court held a hearing on Dec. 13 after New Mexico State Attorney General Raúl Torrez petitioned the New Mexico Supreme Court to repeal ordinances enacted by the Hobbs, Clovis, Roosevelt and Lea County governments. Torrez says the ordinances violate House Bill 7, which was signed to prohibit governments interfering with one’s access to reproductive health care.
As of now, no decision has been made but if the state Supreme Court agrees with Torrez, the ordinances will be null and void. The Edgewood Commission’s anti-abortion measure may face a similar fate.