Petition calling for ordinance vote fails

There will be no special election to decide the fate of Clovis’ anti-abortion clinic ordinance.

“At this point the petition is not certified so the petition is rendered invalid and the ordinance remains in effect,” Clovis City Clerk LeighAnn Melancon said Wednesday afternoon just after 5 p.m. That was the deadline for possibly changing the status of signatures ruled invalid.

The petition organizers, Eastern New Mexico Rising, had gathered 447 signatures on a 55-page petition looking to turn to Clovis voters to decide the fate of the ordinance that forbids establishment of an abortion clinic in the Clovis city limits. The minimum number of signatures of registered voters the group needed on the petition was 269.

Melancon declared 209 of the signatures invalid, leaving 238 valid signatures, 31 short of the minimum.

Those who had their entry on the petition invalidated had the business days from Feb. 8 until Feb. 22 to come to the City Clerk’s office to present documentation to possibly change their status from “invalid” to “valid.”

“Five people came to my office in that time, the last one came in Feb. 17,” Melancon said. “None of their statuses changed.”

“Nothing was wrongfully purged,” Melancon said.

Laura Wight, founding co-chair of ENM Rising, issued a statement on behalf of the group, which read, “We are troubled by various inconsistencies experienced while working with city officials throughout the petition process.”

Wight is concerned several city employees expressed how the petition process was new and unfamiliar territory to them.

“It remains unclear why the signatures of some citizens remain invalid,” Wight wrote in her statement. “While ENMR acknowledges this was a learning opportunity for all, many citizens were left feeling disenfranchised and frustrated about the voter registration process and their voter registration status.”

Wight believes the Clovis city commission “willfully passed an illegal ordinance.”

“We have no plans to abide by this unenforceable ordinance,” Wight wrote.

Mark Lee Dickson of Right to Life East Texas, who brought what he called “The Sanctuary City for the Unborn” ordinance to Clovis, sees the failure of the petition as a sign of the demographic make-up of the city.

“When the opposition to a pro-life ordinance can’t get even 1.5% of the registered voters … to sign a petition, it only reinforces just how pro-life Clovis … truly is,” Dickson said.

Dickson called the development a “great second victory” for the citizens of Clovis.

Developments in Santa Fe may soon impact the Clovis ordinance and similar ordinances in Hobbs and Eunice along with Roosevelt and Lea Counties.

House Bill 7 passed the House in a Tuesday night vote.

The bill prohibits local governments from restricting access to abortion.

New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez filed an extraordinary writ in the state Supreme Court seeking to strike down the Clovis ordinance along with the ones passed in the other cities and counties.

“The demise of the Clovis, Roosevelt County and other anti-choice ordinances is inevitable,” Wight said.

Wight expects House Bill 7 to pass the New Mexico Senate and “swiftly strike down” the ordinances.