Did New Mexico's 2023 Native American Voting Rights Act force counties to redraw precinct boundaries on tribal lands right away, or do counties wait until their next regular boundary update?
Plain-English summary
San Juan County and Representative Mark Duncan asked whether the 2023 Native American Voting Rights Act forced county commissioners to redraw precinct boundaries on tribal lands right away, or whether the new tribal-consultation duty kicks in only when the county next does a regular precinct adjustment.
The Attorney General read Section 1-21A-3 in context with the rest of the Election Code. The statute uses the word "when" to describe when the tribal-consultation duty applies, and "when" is read in its ordinary sense: at or during the time the county adjusts precinct boundaries. The Election Code already tells boards when to do those adjustments, with the main cadence being the federal decennial census every ten years (Section 1-3-12). The 2023 Act does not impose its own immediate deadline; it sits on top of the existing schedule.
In practice, that means a board can wait until the run-up to the 2030 census to do its next boundary adjustment. When that adjustment happens, the board has to notify the affected Indian nation, tribe, or pueblo and use the political boundary data the tribe has filed with the Census Bureau. The Secretary of State must reject any precinct map that does not comply.
What this means for you
If you are a county clerk or county commissioner with tribal land in your county
You do not have to call a special meeting in 2026 just because the 2023 statute is on the books. Your existing precinct map remains valid. The new tribal-consultation requirements attach to your next regular precinct boundary review, which is generally tied to the decennial census cycle and the early-2029 / odd-year submission deadlines.
Use the time. Reach out to the affected Indian nation, tribe, or pueblo now to understand what political boundary data they have filed with the Census Bureau and what they will file ahead of the 2030 redistricting cycle. The Section 1-21A-3 process is collaborative. Building the working relationship in advance avoids friction when you actually have to draw the new lines.
If a non-routine event forces a precinct change before the next census-driven cycle (annexation, court-ordered redistricting, large population shift), the consultation duty kicks in then. Treat any precinct adjustment, not just decennial ones, as triggering the Section 1-21A-3 process if it touches tribal lands.
If you are a Pueblo, Nation, or Tribe with members in a New Mexico county
The county is required to consult with you and use the political boundaries you have submitted to the Census Bureau when it adjusts precinct boundaries on your lands. Make sure your internal and external boundary submissions to the Census Bureau are current. The county's adjustment process will rely on those filings.
You can ask the county clerk for the planned timing of any precinct adjustment, and you can flag concerns with the Secretary of State, who must reject any precinct boundary map that does not comply with Section 1-21A-3.
If you are at the Secretary of State's office or work in election administration
Boards have some flexibility on timing. The opinion does not relieve a board of the substantive consultation duty, only of an immediate-deadline reading. When a board does file precinct boundaries on the regular Election Code schedule, the Secretary of State retains the rejection power under Section 1-21A-3(C) for any non-compliant map.
If you are a voting rights attorney or advocate
The opinion narrows the timing of the duty but not its substance. A county that adjusts precinct boundaries on tribal lands without consultation or without using Census Bureau political-boundary data still violates Section 1-21A-3, regardless of whether the trigger is decennial census compliance, redistricting, annexation, or another Election Code event. The opinion does not address remedies for non-compliance.
Common questions
Q: Does the 2023 statute force my county to redraw precincts now?
A: No. The opinion reads Section 1-21A-3 as triggered by the next regularly scheduled precinct boundary adjustment, not as imposing its own immediate deadline.
Q: When is the next regular adjustment cycle?
A: The Election Code generally aligns with the federal decennial census. Section 1-3-12 requires precincts to comply before each census; Section 1-3-5 sets a December-of-odd-year filing deadline for boundary changes to take effect January 1 of the next year. The next census-driven cycle runs into 2029.
Q: What if a county already has tribal precincts that need fixing now?
A: A board can adjust precincts at any time it determines an adjustment is "necessary to meet legal and constitutional requirements for redistricting." If a board does that on tribal lands, Section 1-21A-3 applies even if the next census is years away.
Q: What does the consultation actually require?
A: Two things. First, the board must inquire of each Indian nation, tribe, or pueblo in the county to provide the internal and external political boundaries it has submitted to the Census Bureau. Second, the board must adjust precincts to correspond to those boundaries.
Q: What happens if a board files a non-compliant map?
A: The Secretary of State must reject it under Section 1-21A-3(C). The board would then need to redo the consultation and resubmit.
Q: Does this affect non-tribal precinct adjustments?
A: No. Section 1-21A-3 only applies when adjusting precinct boundaries for census blocks on Indian nation, tribal, or pueblo lands. Adjustments elsewhere in the county follow the rest of the Election Code.
Background and statutory framework
In 2023, the New Mexico Legislature enacted the Native American Voting Rights Act, NMSA 1978, §§ 1-21A-1 to -10. Section 1-21A-3 added a tribal-consultation requirement to county precinct boundary adjustments touching tribal lands. The Act took effect July 1, 2023.
The opinion turns on the meaning of the word "when" in Section 1-21A-3(A). The AG applied the standard New Mexico canons: the goal is to ascertain legislative intent (State v. Smith, 2004-NMSC-032), starting with plain language, and statutes are read in pari materia to maintain harmony across the code (N.M. Indus. Energy Consumers v. PRC, 2007-NMSC-053).
Read in context with the rest of the Election Code, "when" identifies the timing of the consultation duty rather than imposing its own deadline. Section 1-3-1 sets the substantive precinct requirements. Section 1-3-5 gives boards the power to adjust precincts and sets the odd-year December filing deadline for any necessary changes. Section 1-3-12 ties the main adjustment cycle to the federal decennial census.
Section 1-21A-3(C) gives the Secretary of State a backstop: rejection of any precinct boundary map that does not comply with the consultation and Census Bureau-data requirements.
Citations and references
Statutes:
- NMSA 1978, §§ 1-21A-1 to -10 (Native American Voting Rights Act)
- NMSA 1978, § 1-21A-3 (Tribal precinct boundary inquiry)
- NMSA 1978, §§ 1-3-1, -5, -10 to -14, -12 (Election Code precinct provisions)
Cases:
- State v. Smith, 2004-NMSC-032, 136 N.M. 372
- N.M. Indus. Energy Consumers v. PRC, 2007-NMSC-053, 142 N.M. 533
Source
- Landing page: https://nmdoj.gov/publication/opinion/2026-03-opinion-precinct-boundary-adjustment-following-statutory-change/
- Original PDF: https://nmdoj.gov/wp-content/uploads/Attorney-General-Opinion-2026-03-Precinct-Boundary-Adjustment-Following-Statutory-Change.pdf
Original opinion text
January 12, 2026
OPINION
OF
RAÚL TORREZ
Attorney General
Opinion No. 2026-03
To:
NM Representative Mark Duncan
Alyssa Kuhn, San Juan County Clerk
Re:
Attorney General Opinion – Precinct Boundary Adjustment Following Statutory Change
Question
Does NMSA 1978, Section 1-21A-3 (2023) create a requirement that precinct boundaries must be
adjusted immediately upon implementation of this new statutory section, or may a board of county
commissioners (Board) conduct the next adjustment in the year 2029, before the decennial
redistricting for federal census purposes, or as otherwise required by NMSA 1978, Sections 1-3-1, -5 (2019)?
Answer
The Native American Voting Rights Act, NMSA 1978, §§ 1-21A-1 to -10 (2023) (Act), and
specifically Section 1-21A-3, do not contain language requiring a Board to adjust precinct
boundaries immediately upon implementation of the Act. Instead, a plain language reading of the
statute in the context of the broader Election Code suggests that the statute is triggered when
precinct boundaries subject to the Act are otherwise required to be adjusted pursuant to the Election
Code, NMSA 1978, §§ 1-1-1 to -25-6 (1953, as amended through 2025).
Background
In 2023, the New Mexico Legislature enacted a new Act within the Election Code, which added
statutory requirements when any Board adjusts precinct boundaries in a manner affecting an Indian
nation, tribe, or pueblo. A Board seeking the adjustment must notify the affected Indian nation,
tribe, or pueblo and obtain from the United States Census Bureau the appropriate information, as
submitted by the Indian nation, tribe, or pueblo, to affect the boundary adjustment. In sum, as of
July 1, 2023, when the Act took effect, any Board is required to work collaboratively with an
affected Indian nation, tribe, or pueblo in adjusting precinct boundaries.
New Mexico Department of Justice
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Analysis
The statute in question here, Section 1-21A-3, provides:
A. When adjusting precinct boundaries for any group of census blocks that are on
Indian nation, tribal or pueblo lands, the board of county commissioners shall inquire
of each Indian nation, tribe or pueblo in the county to provide internal and external
political boundaries for the Indian nation, tribe or pueblo that the Indian nation, tribe
or pueblo has provided to the United States census bureau.
B. The board of county commissioners shall adjust precinct boundaries to
correspond to the internal and external political boundaries that each Indian nation,
tribe or pueblo in the county has provided to the United States census bureau.
C. The secretary of state shall reject any precinct boundary maps that do not comply
with the provisions of this section.
Id. (emphasis added). As emphasized above, it is necessary to determine the meaning of "when"
within the Act, as it appears to be the operative word with respect to the timing of any precinct
boundary adjustments.
In New Mexico, statutes are interpreted according to the basic canons of statutory interpretation.
The ultimate goal is to "ascertain and give effect to the intent of the legislature." State v. Smith,
2004-NMSC-032, ¶ 8, 136 N.M. 372. Our analysis begins with a review of the plain "language of
the statute itself." Id. ¶ 9. Statutes must also be interpreted in a manner that allows for harmony
within the statutory code. See N.M. Indus. Energy Consumers v. PRC, 2007-NMSC-053, ¶ 20, 142
N.M. 533 (stating that "in addition, we strive to read related statutes in harmony so as to give effect
to all provisions . . . . [P]rovisions of a statute must be read together with other statutes in pari
materia under the presumption that the legislature acted with full knowledge of relevant statutory
and common law. [. . .] Thus, two statutes covering the same subject matter should be harmonized
and construed together when possible, in a way that facilitates their operation and the achievement
of their goals" (internal citation and emphasis omitted)).
The word "when" is not defined in the Election Code. "When" is defined in the dictionary as "at
or during which time." When, MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONARY, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/when (last accessed Aug. 29, 2025). There is no other temporal language,
with respect to the adjustment of precinct boundaries, in the Act. Thus, the Legislature's use of the
word "when" in Section 1-21A-3 without further discussion or definition suggests that the
Legislature intended that statute to work in harmony with other statutory sections of the Election
Code with respect to the timing of a precinct boundary adjustment.
The other pertinent statutory sections are NMSA 1978, Sections 1-3-1, -5, and -12. Section 1-3-1
states that all precinct boundaries "shall comply with the provisions of the Precinct Boundary
Adjustment Act[,]" NMSA 1978, §§ 1-3-10 to -14 (1983, as amended through 2021). Section 1-3-1 otherwise establishes the legislative requirements for what constitutes a precinct. Id.
For its part, Section 1-3-5 sets forth the powers of a Board, which, in part, include a mandatory
requirement that it "create additional precincts to meet the requirements of Section 1-3-1 . . . and
divide, abolish, combine, or adjust the boundaries of any precincts as necessary to meet legal and
constitutional requirements for redistricting." Id. Section 1-3-5 further requires that "any necessary
precinct boundary adjustments" be "submitted to the secretary of state no later than the first
Monday in December of each odd-numbered year to become effective January 1 of the next
succeeding the approval of the boundary adjustment[,]" in order to be compliant with the Boundary
Adjustment Act. Id.
Finally, Section 1-3-12 of the Boundary Adjustment Act establishes that "[b]efore each federal
decennial census, every precinct shall comply with the requirements of Section 1-3-1, and if
necessary its boundary shall be adjusted to coincide with a feature or boundary" as further defined
by the section. Id. The section also states that for the "2022 and subsequent statewide elections,
changes in precincts shall be made in accordance with the provisions of [Sections 1-3-1 to -9]."
Id.
Taken together, precinct adjustments are to be made at the time of the federal decennial census.
See §§ 1-3-1, -5, and -12. It is only "when," defined as "at or during which time[,]" a Board is
going to adjust precinct boundaries pursuant to its statutory duties under the Election Code—i.e.,
under Sections 1-3-1, 5, and 12—that a Board is to ensure that it notifies and works collaboratively
with the affected Indian nation, tribe, or pueblo. See § 1-21A-3.
Conclusion
Section 1-21A-3 does not require a Board to immediately adjust precinct boundaries upon
implementation of this new statute. Instead, precinct adjustments shall be made before each federal
decennial census. Provided the boundaries are adjusted in compliance with the other statutory
requirements of the Election Code, a Board will be in compliance with the requirements of the
Act.
Please note that this opinion is a public document and is not protected by the attorney-client
privilege. It will be published on our website and made available to the general public.
RAÚL TORREZ
ATTORNEY GENERAL
/s/ Serena R. Wheaton
Serena R. Wheaton
Assistant Solicitor General