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Ballot access requirements for political parties in New Mexico
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Note: This article is not intended to serve as a guide to running for public office. Individuals should contact their state election agencies for further information.
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Although there are hundreds of political parties in the United States, only certain parties qualify to have the names of their candidates for office printed on election ballots. In order to qualify for ballot placement, a party must meet certain requirements that vary from state to state. For example, in some states, a party may have to file a petition in order to qualify for ballot placement. In other states, a party must organize around a candidate for a specific office; that candidate must, in turn, win a percentage of the vote in order for the party to be granted ballot status. In still other states, an aspiring political party must register a certain number of voters.
To learn more about ballot access requirements for political candidates in New Mexico, see this article.
Process for a political party to obtain ballot status
See statutes: New Mexico Statutes Chapter 1, Article 7
Definitions
According to New Mexico Statutes § 1-7-7:[1]
| “ |
A. "major political party" means any qualified political party, any of whose candidates received as many as five percent of the total number of votes cast at the last preceding general election for the office of governor or president of the United States, as the case may be, and whose membership totals not less than one-third of one percent of the statewide registered voter file on the day of the governor's primary election proclamation; and B. "minor political party" means any qualified political party that is not qualified as a major political party pursuant to Subsection A of this section.[2] |
” |
Nominating candidates
Major political parties must nominate candidates via primary. Minor political parties must nominate candidates as prescribed in their party rules and regulations, whether by convention or other method.[3][4][5]
Qualifications for a new political party
To qualify as a political party, a party must adopt rules through its governing body providing for its organization and government. These rules must be filed with the secretary of state. County party organizations must also adopt uniform rules throughout the state and file those rules with county clerks.[6]
Along with the state party rules, the party's governing body must also file a petition with the secretary of state. This petition must include a number of valid signatures equaling at least 0.5% of the total number of votes cast for governor at the preceding general election.[6]
Each political party must file its rules and petition within 30 days of its organization and no later than 23 days after the primary before the general election in which it intends to participate.[7]
No amendments can be made to political party rules less than 120 days before a general election, and no amendment will be effective until 30 days after being filed. Amendments must be filed in the same manner as original party rules and regulations.[8]
Retaining status
A political party will lose its qualified status if it fails to place a candidate on the ballot for two elections in a row, or if it runs a candidate for either governor or president and that candidate fails to receive at least 0.5% of the total vote in the general election.[9]
Political parties
As of May 2024, New Mexico recognized four political parties. These are listed in the table below. [10]
| Party | Website link | By-laws/platform link |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party of New Mexico | Link | Party platform |
| Libertarian Party of New Mexico | Link | Party platform |
| Republican Party of New Mexico | Link | Party rules |
| Green Party of New Mexico | Link | Party platform |
Noteworthy events
2022
Libertarian Party of New Mexico separates from Libertarian National Committee
On July 31, 2022, the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) passed a motion concluding that the constitutional convention of the Libertarian Party of New Mexico (LPNM), held on July 12, 2022, was "null and void" owing to procedural defects (e.g., failure to give sufficient notice to party members). The LNC declined to recognize the constitution and bylaws adopted by the LPNM at the July 12, 2022, convention and instead recognized the constitution and bylaws adopted at the March 27, 2021, convention. On August 25, 2022, the LPNM announced its disaffiliation from the LNC. In a letter announcing the decision, LPNM chairman Chris Luchini said, "You have conspired, with a faction inimical to the principles of libertarianism, to impose upon us officers and governing documents foreign to our rules, unchosen by our members, and unacknowledged by the laws of our state." On September 11, 2022, the LNC declined to recognize the LPNM's attempt to disaffiliate from the LNC, instead voting 14-1 (with two abstentions) to disaffiliate itself from the LPNM. Chair Angela McArdle suggested that the LPNM would no longer be authorized to use the "Libertarian Party" name: "If state parties choose to disaffiliate and operate completely independent of the national LP, they will need to come up with a new name." The disaffiliation of the LPNM from the LNC had no immediate effect on the LPNM's ballot status in New Mexico.[11][12]
2014
Green Party submits petition for ballot access
On June 26, 2014, the New Mexico Green Party submitted a petition to restore its recognized party status in the state. The petition was found to be valid and the Green Party was granted minor party status.[10][13]
Constitution Party gains ballot access
In early May 2014, Secretary of State Dianna Duran approved the Constitution Party's petition for ballot access. The party was on the ballot for the 2014 general election.[14]
2014 party ballot access bill
In March 2014, Governor Susana Martinez signed into law HB 368, which changed the state's ballot access requirements in three ways:
- The deadline for a newly-qualifying party to submit a petition moved from April to late June.
- Signatures on that petition are presumed valid and do not need individual checking.
- The number of signatures for a separate petition, the nominee petition, were reduced from 1 percent of the last vote cast to 1 percent of the last gubernatorial vote. This has no impact in presidential election years, although the new requirement is an approximately 25 percent reduction in the number of signatures in midterm years. For 2014, nominee petitions for statewide office required 6,018 signatures.
The bill took effect immediately.[15]
In December 2013, a United States District Court judge ruled that New Mexico's April deadline for new political parties to submit petitions was unconstitutionally early. The plaintiff, the Constitution Party, while meeting the deadline to qualify for the 2012 election, filed the suit in 2012 and presented evidence showing that the April 2012 deadline forced the organization to spend $15,000 on paid petition circulators that otherwise would not have been spent with a later petition deadline. The decision declared that, prior to 1995, the petition deadline occurred in July, and the court found that the state did not put forward any evidence or argument to demonstrate how the July deadline caused election administrative problems. Prior decisions by the United States District Court in 2013 upheld a March petition deadline in Alabama and a May petition deadline in North Carolina.[16]
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See also
- Ballot access requirements for political candidates in New Mexico
- Ballot access requirements for presidential candidates in New Mexico
- List of political parties in the United States
- Democratic Party of New Mexico
- Republican Party of New Mexico
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Justia, "NM Stat § 1-7-7 (2024)," accessed July 9, 2025
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Justia, "NM Stat § 1-8-1 (2024)," accessed July 9, 2025
- ↑ Justia, "NM Stat § 1-8-2 (2024)," accessed July 9, 2025
- ↑ Justia, "NM Stat § 1-8-3 (2024)," accessed July 9, 2025
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Justia, "NM Stat § 1-7-2 (2024)," accessed July 9, 2025
- ↑ Justia, "NM Stat § 1-7-4 (2024)," accessed July 9, 2025
- ↑ Justia, "NM Stat § 1-7-5 (2024)," accessed July 9, 2025
- ↑ Justia, "NM Stat § 1-7-2 (2024)," accessed July 9, 2025
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 New Mexico Secretary of State, "NM Political Parties," accessed December 3, 2021
- ↑ Reason, "Libertarian Party Faces State Rebellions," September 15, 2022
- ↑ Libertarian Party of New Mexico, "The Libertarian Party of New Mexico (LPNM) Announces Its Independence from the LNC," August 26, 2022
- ↑ Ballot Access News, "New Mexico Green Party Submits Petition to Restore Party Status," accessed July 1, 2014
- ↑ Ballot Access News, "New Mexico Secretary of State Says Constitution Party Petition is Valid," May 2, 2014
- ↑ Ballot Access News, "New Mexico Governor Signs Ballot Access Improvement Bill," accessed March 11, 2014
- ↑ Ballot Access News, "Constitution Party Wins Lawsuit Against New Mexico's April Petition Deadline," accessed December 18, 2013
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