The Edgewood Commission for a third time approved a resolution in hopes of putting an anti-abortion referendum on the ballot.
At a commission meeting May 30, commissioners unanimously approved a resolution directing the town clerk to issue a proclamation for a special all mail-in vote election. If approved by the secretary of state, residents of Edgewood will be able to vote for or against an abortion ordinance passed by the town commission in April 2023.
The ordinance bans the distribution of abortion medication or equipment by mail in Edgewood.
Commissioner Sterling Donner expressed some skepticism about the ultimate success of the resolution and the possibility of getting the referendum on a ballot for a vote by Edgewood residents.
“So it’s no secret I was the one that brought this ordinance originally,” Donner said. “Are we spinning our wheels on something that’s not going to end up happening until after a Supreme Court vote? I called the Secretary of State’s Office. They told me they will not allow any of this.”
Commissioners addressed the possible obstacles to getting the resolution approved by the secretary of state, including the fact that Edgewood currently needs a town clerk. To circumvent this potential roadblock, the commission nominated and voted unanimously to designate Mayor Pro Tem Filandro Anaya as acting town clerk.
“I swore on the Bible that I would do the duties of this commission and that means whatever is requested,” Anaya said. “I think that I have to put my opinion [and] my personal beliefs away, I have to do that. So in this particular case, I will sign.”
Before this temporary appointment of Anaya, Town Manager Nina McCracken was performing the duties of town clerk.
Anaya voted against the original April 2023 anti-abortion measure that the Edgewood Commission passed on a 4-1 vote.
In the wake of that decision, a citizen’s group successfully gathered enough signatures to force a special election, but the commission was unable to meet the strict timeline guidelines to bring that to the people. Additionally, it did not follow the correct procedural steps necessary for a special election.
On Jan. 8, the Edgewood Commission approved a special election that allowed residents to vote on the abortion referendum. The estimated cost of the special mail-in election would have been $36,000 had the proclamation been approved. The commission announced Feb. 13 that Santa Fe County Clerk Katharine Clark rejected the proclamation and determined the form of the ballot question was improper and therefore had no legal effect.
In a letter to McCracken, Clark wrote, “The question is posed in the form of an initiative ballot question, rather than a referendum ballot question and has no legal effect. Accordingly, the County Clerk is rejecting the Proclamation and will not conduct the Special Election requested by the Proclamation.”
“So this is attempt number three. We looked at the rejection letter that we got from the county and changed that language,” Commissioner Jerry Powers said. “I understand that the secretary of state may still reject it.”
Hobbs, Clovis, Roosevelt and Lea counties have passed similar anti-abortion ordinances using the Comstock Act of 1873, which deemed it illegal to send contraceptives by mail.
The New Mexico Supreme Court held a hearing in December after state Attorney General Raúl Torrez petitioned the 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 from interfering with access to reproductive health care.
The Supreme Court has not yet made a ruling in that case.
The commission is well aware that time is a factor, and that the resolution needs to be brought to the secretary of state as soon as possible.
“We have a duty. There’s only one more window this year because you can’t have it too close to a general election,” Powers said. “There’s a short window in August, August 22 is the date. So I move that we approve the resolution.”