CVNM Statement In Response to Voting Rights Act Celebrates 60th Anniversary
National voting access, transparency and protection under siege
SANTA FE – Today, Conservation Voters New Mexico is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act marked the culmination of years of struggle by the civil rights movement to put the voting protections contained in the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution, adopted in 1868 and 1870 respectively, into statute.
Since then, there has been an on-going struggle to keep strong and effective voting rights in place and honor the anti-discrimination intent of the Act. In 2023, New Mexico leaders responded to these threats by strengthening voting protections through the landmark passage of the New Mexico Voting Rights Act. However, voting protections continue to be threatened and rolled back in other states. In response, Conservation Voters New Mexico’s Political Director issued the following statements.
“An equitable and just democracy is essential to ensuring our government serves and represents all communities. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a landmark law that advanced the democratic promise of America. However, the communities hardest hit by climate change and plagued by legacy pollution – rural, Indigenous, and communities of color – have also continued to be suppressed and face historically disproportionate obstacles to civic engagement. Here in New Mexico, lawmakers addressed this head on through the passage of the New Mexico Voting Rights Act in 2023. A crowning achievement of this policy was the 2023 Native American Voting Rights Act, making New Mexico the first state to put protecting the Indigenous vote into statute. As a nation, we now face troubling times, where free and fair elections can no longer be taken for granted. We applaud New Mexico leaders for adopting strong measures to protect our democracy, and look forward to working with our allies to ensure that the Land of Enchantment remains a leader in election access.” – John Martinez, CVNM Political Director
BACKGROUND
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 was approved by Congress over intense and protracted resistance, primarily by Southern states. The Act established a “coverage formula” of specific conditions that applied to a handful of states and local governments with a history of “pervasive discrimination.” The coverage formula was the basis for other sections of the VRA, especially “preclearance” by which a coverage state would have to create federally approved, anti-discriminatory election laws.
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) regularly issued decisions in cases brought to it by disgruntled states that weakened definitions of “discrimination” and “intent” and other provisions of the VRA. Congress would then pass new legislation amending the VRA to affirm the anti-discrimination language and intent of the VRA. However, in 2013, in Shelby County v Holder, a 5-4 SCOTUS decision struck down the coverage formula. The majority held that the coverage formula violated the constitutional principles of federalism because its treated “sovereign” states unequally and, in addition, was based on “40 year-old facts having no logical relationship to the present day” – as if racist gerrymandering, voter roll purges and disparate access were no longer relevant.
In response, states freed from federal oversight after Shelby Co v Holder undertook massive voter roll purges.1
Now, in Louisiana v Callais – a case over rectifying Louisiana’s racially gerrymandered districts – the conservative majority on SCOTUS have indicated that they are interested in turning the idea of racial discrimination on its head.2 SCOTUS could rule that creating an additional district in which Black voters have a chance of winning a second seat that would align their seat total with their voting size (about ⅓ of voters and potentially 2/6 seats), constitutes “racial discrimination” while the Constitution, in this interpretation, requires colorblindness.
1 Feder, Catalina; Miller, Michael G. (June 1, 2020). “Voter Purges After Shelby: Part of Special Symposium on Election Sciences”. American Politics Research. 48 (6): 687–692.
2 Hasen, Richard L. (August 4, 2025). “The Supreme Court Just Signaled Something Deeply Disturbing About the Next Term”. Slate.
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CVNM is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization connecting the people of New Mexico to their political power to protect our air, land, water, wildlife and communities for a healthy Land of Enchantment. CVNM does this by mobilizing voters, winning elections, holding elected officials accountable and advancing responsible public policies.