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Ballot Explained

New Mexico ballot measure · November 3, 2026

New Mexico Constitutional Amendment 1, explained

End the governor's pocket veto and require veto explanations. A ballot measure is a yes-or-no question put directly to voters — no candidate is involved, and the wording on the ballot is the wording that becomes law. This page shows that wording first, then what it actually changes.

The official wordingWhat appears on the ballot. Everything below explains it.
PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE 4, SECTION 22 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF NEW MEXICO TO REQUIRE THE GOVERNOR TO PROVIDE VETO MESSAGES ON ALL BILLS VETOED IN WHOLE OR IN PART AND TO PROVIDE THAT ALL BILLS PASSED BY THE LEGISLATURE AND NOT ACTED ON BY THE GOVERNOR WILL BECOME LAW.

What it actually means

A bill sent to the governor in the last three days of a session can be killed simply by doing nothing with it for 20 days after the session ends. That is the pocket veto: the bill dies and the governor never has to say why. This amendment reverses the default — silence would mean the bill becomes law — and requires any veto to come with "a substantive explanation" returned to the Legislature or filed with the Secretary of State. The Legislature's power to override a veto by two-thirds of both chambers is unchanged.

Y

If you vote YES

  • A bill presented in the last three days of a session would become law unless the governor vetoes it within 20 days of adjournment.
  • Every veto, whole or partial, would have to include a substantive written explanation, returned with the bill to the chamber where it started or deposited with it at the Secretary of State.
  • The pocket veto would cease to exist. Between 2014 and 2026, governors pocket vetoed 166 bills and issued 180 explained vetoes.
  • Because the explanation becomes a constitutional requirement, courts could be asked to decide whether a given explanation is "substantive."
  • The line-item veto over appropriations bills and the two-thirds legislative override both stay as they are.
N

If you vote NO

  • Article 4, Section 22 keeps its current rule: a bill presented in the final three days of a session becomes law only if the governor signs it, so inaction kills it.
  • A governor could continue to end a bill without stating any objection, as has happened 166 times since 2014.
  • The Legislature would keep its existing workarounds — sending contentious bills to the governor before the last three days, which forces a written veto, and overriding a veto with two-thirds of both chambers.
  • No new question about what counts as a "substantive explanation" would arise, and no new ground for litigation between the branches would be created.
The numbers that matter
Bills pocket vetoed, 2014–2026
166

New Mexico Legislative Council Service, 2026 guide to the proposed constitutional amendments

Bills vetoed with an explanation, 2014–2026
180

New Mexico Legislative Council Service, 2026 guide to the proposed constitutional amendments

Time the governor has to act after the session ends
20 days

Article 4, Section 22, New Mexico Constitution; unchanged by the amendment

Votes needed to override a veto
Two-thirds of members present and voting in each chamber

Article 4, Section 22, New Mexico Constitution; unchanged by the amendment

What each side says3 for, 2 against — quoted, not summarised

Why supporters say YES

  • "I've been in the Legislature for 12 years and it's really hard to pass legislation. When you have legislation that just passed, sometimes with a large majority, it goes up to the governor's desk and the governor doesn't sign it and doesn't tell you why, what are you supposed to do?" He describes the measure as supporting "transparency and good government."

    — State Rep. Matthew McQueen (D-Galisteo), co-sponsor, to Source New Mexico

  • "With the ability to pocket veto a bill, the governor can veto a bill passed by both chambers of the legislature without an explanation. This can leave the public and the legislature in the dark about what objections the governor had and does not provide information on how the bill might be reintroduced in the future in a manner that the governor would sign."

    — New Mexico Legislative Council Service, "Arguments For" in its 2026 guide to the proposed constitutional amendments

  • "With the elimination of the pocket veto, the legislature would have an increased chance of passed bills becoming law, especially for a politically fraught bill, because to veto a bill, the governor would have to be intentional about the veto and provide a reason."

    — New Mexico Legislative Council Service, "Arguments For" in its 2026 guide to the proposed constitutional amendments

Why opponents say NO

  • "The proposed amendment is unnecessary because the legislature currently can require the governor to provide a reason for vetoing a bill by presenting the bill to the governor before the last three days of a session. … Further, with only 20 days to act after the adjournment of the legislature, providing a written, substantive explanation for every bill to be vetoed could be overly burdensome and create a logjam of work in the executive branch. … This could result in 'bad bills' becoming law because the governor ran out of time before a veto message could be written."

    — New Mexico Legislative Council Service, "Arguments Against" in its 2026 guide to the proposed constitutional amendments

  • "To veto a bill, the governor would be required to provide a 'substantive explanation' for the veto, but there is nothing in the proposed amendment to indicate what that would entail. This could lead to an increase in litigation between the legislative and executive branches at a cost to the taxpayers. Additionally, the litigation could delay the enactment of a bill, leaving the public in limbo."

    — New Mexico Legislative Council Service, "Arguments Against" in its 2026 guide to the proposed constitutional amendments

What's genuinely uncertain
  • What a "substantive explanation" has to contain is not defined anywhere in the amendment, and no court has ruled on comparable language in New Mexico.
  • Whether the 20-day post-session window is long enough to write explanations for every vetoed bill, and what a governor would do if it is not, is an open question rather than a settled fact.
  • No fiscal impact statement for this amendment was located, and no campaign committee has registered on either side.
  • The amendment takes effect on approval, so it would apply to bills from the 2027 session onward; it says nothing about bills already pocket vetoed.

The bottom line

Whether a governor should be able to kill a bill by saying nothing — legislative and public knowledge of why a law died, set against a tighter 20-day squeeze on the governor and a new phrase for courts to interpret.

One neutral sentence describing the tradeoff — not a recommendation.

Sources (3)The numbers in the text above link here
  1. 12026 General Election: Statewide Constitutional Amendments and General Obligation Bonds — New Mexico Secretary of State — sos.nm.gov
  2. 2Summary of and Arguments For and Against the Constitutional Amendments Proposed by the Legislature in 2025 and 2026 — New Mexico Legislative Council Service — nmlegis.gov
  3. 3New Mexico Election 2026: Constitutional Amendments 1-3 — Source New Mexico — sourcenm.com

Checking it against the official text

The New Mexico Secretary of State publishes the certified measures and, in most states, an official voter guide with fiscal notes. That is the authoritative version. Everything here is an explanation of it, not a substitute for it.

Confirm this with the official source

Your ballot is determined by your election authority, not by us. Verify your registration, precinct, and sample ballot at New Mexico Secretary of State.

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