Ballot access requirements for political parties in New Mexico

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Note: This article is not intended to serve as an exhaustive guide to running for public office. Individuals should contact their state election agencies for further information.

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.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • As of May 2024, New Mexico officially recognized four political parties: the Democratic, Libertarian, Republican, and Working Families parties.
  • In some states, a candidate may choose to have a label other than that of an officially recognized party appear alongside his or her name on the ballot. Such labels are called political party designations. New Mexico does not allow candidates to use political party designations.

    • To learn more about ballot access requirements for political candidates in New Mexico, see this article.

    DocumentIcon.jpg See state election laws

    Process for a political party to obtain ballot status

    Seal of New Mexico

    DocumentIcon.jpg See statutes: Article 7 of the New Mexico Election Code

    State law defines a minor political party as "any qualified political party that is not qualified as a major political party."[1] A major political party is a qualified political party whose candidates received at least 5 percent of the total number of votes cast at the last preceding general election for the office of governor or president, and whose membership totals at least 0.33 percent of registered voters in New Mexico on the day of the governor's primary election proclamation.[2]

    Qualifications for a new political party

    To qualify as a political party, each political party through its governing body must adopt rules providing for the organization and government of that party and must file these rules with the secretary of state.[3]

    Uniform rules must be adopted throughout the state by the county organizations of that party, where county organizations exist, and must be filed with county clerks. At the same time the rules are filed with the secretary of state, the governing body of the political party must file a petition with the secretary of state. This petition must include a number of valid signatures equaling at least 0.5 percent of the total number of votes cast for governor at the preceding general election.

    Each political party must file its rules and regulations within 30 days of its organization and no later than the first Tuesday in April before any election in which it is authorized to participate.[4]

    Political parties filing rules and regulations with the county clerk must pay the standard filing fee, which is $50.[5][6]

    Political party rules and regulations filed are subject to amendment only in the manner provided for in such rules and regulations. No amendments can be made less than 120 days prior to any general election, nor can any amendment be effective until 30 days after being filed. Amendments must be filed in the same manner as original party rules and regulations are filed.[7]

    Retaining status

    A qualified political party will lose its qualified status if one of the party's candidates for governor or president fails to win at least 0.5 percent of the total number of votes cast for those offices in two successive general elections.[8]

    Political parties

    See also: List of political parties in the United States

    As of May 2024, New Mexico recognized four political parties. These are listed in the table below. [9]

    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.[10][11]

    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.[9][12]

    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.[13]

    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:

    1. The deadline for a newly-qualifying party to submit a petition moved from April to late June.
    2. Signatures on that petition are presumed valid and do not need individual checking.
    3. 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.[14]

    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.[15]

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    See also

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    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ New Mexico Election Code, "Chapter 1-7-7," accessed January 8, 2014
    2. ↑ New Mexico Election Code, "Chapter 1-7-7," accessed January 21, 2014
    3. ↑ New Mexico Election Code, "Chapter 1-7-2," accessed January 7, 2014
    4. ↑ New Mexico Election Code, "Chapter 1-7-4," accessed January 15, 2014
    5. ↑ New Mexico Election Code, "Chapter 1-7-4," accessed January 15, 2014
    6. ↑ New Mexico Election Code, "Chapter 1-8-41," accessed January 21, 2014
    7. ↑ New Mexico Election Code, "Chapter 1-7-5," accessed January 15, 2014
    8. ↑ New Mexico Election Code, "Chapter 1-7-2(A)," accessed January 15, 2014
    9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 New Mexico Secretary of State, "NM Political Parties," accessed December 3, 2021
    10. ↑ Reason, "Libertarian Party Faces State Rebellions," September 15, 2022
    11. ↑ Libertarian Party of New Mexico, "The Libertarian Party of New Mexico (LPNM) Announces Its Independence from the LNC," August 26, 2022
    12. ↑ Ballot Access News, "New Mexico Green Party Submits Petition to Restore Party Status," accessed July 1, 2014
    13. ↑ Ballot Access News, "New Mexico Secretary of State Says Constitution Party Petition is Valid," May 2, 2014
    14. ↑ Ballot Access News, "New Mexico Governor Signs Ballot Access Improvement Bill," accessed March 11, 2014
    15. ↑ Ballot Access News, "Constitution Party Wins Lawsuit Against New Mexico's April Petition Deadline," accessed December 18, 2013
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