SANTA FE – State legislators pushed forward Friday with temporary election reforms and an overhaul of state spending in response to the coronavirus and economic upheaval.

On the second day of a special legislative session, the Democratic-led New Mexico state Senate approved election changes aimed at making absentee balloting more reliable in November as residents flock to mail-in voting.

The Democrat-sponsored bill now moves to the House for consideration. It would provide more time for the distribution of absentee ballots by request, add new ballot-verification requirements and expand local voting opportunities for Native American communities and their immediate neighbors.

Voters would have to provide the last four digits of their Social Security numbers on absentee ballots, under new anti-fraud procedures.

The initiative responds in part to peculiar election code provisions that shut down in-person polling locations in the June 2 primary at many autonomous Native American communities because of coronavirus lockdowns and roadblocks designed to protect tribal residents from infection. The proposed legislation would allow tribal governments to keep those polling locations open if the pandemic persists through the general election, while people on the outskirts of tribal lands will have new suffrage options at voting convenience centers.

The election bill was approved 40-2 by the Senate. Democratic Sen. Bill Tallman voted against the bill because it was stripped of provisions to distribute absentee ballots directly to voters with request. Absentee ballots are available only by request in New Mexico for any reason.

“Study after study has debunked the voter-fraud myth,” Tallman said.

Lawmakers are confronting a $2.4 billion decline in estimates for state government income for the current budget year and the fiscal year that begins July 1, as the state’s crucial tourism industry has crashed and its oil sector falters.

Lawmakers plan to tap $750 million in federal recovery funds and state financial reserves to sustain some increased spending for the fiscal year that begins July 1, including downsized pay raises for state and public school staff.

The Senate took up debate Friday of a bill that would cancel $13 million in infrastructure projects. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and leading legislators want the state to borrow money from bond markets to sustain other infrastructure spending that is viewed as crucial to an economic recovery.

“What’s outlined in this bill is hard decisions, but the reality is we need to prioritize,” said Democratic state Sen. John Sapien of Corrales.