Election marks the state’s first ‘semi-open’ primary election

Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico

This article was originally published by Source New Mexico.

Early voting begins on Tuesday for New Mexico’s June 2 primary election. Residents can vote at county clerks’ offices until May 16, at which point more early voting locations will become available. Tuesday also is the first day county clerks can begin sending mail-in ballots to voters who requested them.

The June 2 primary marks the first time  “decline to state” voters can cast ballots in primary elections, thanks to Senate Bill 16, which the Legislature approved in 2025 to create semi-open primary elections. 

Prior to 2022, only major party voters could participate in primary elections under New Mexico’s closed primary system. A law change that went into effect in 2022 allowed independent voters to participate in the Democratic or Republican primaries if they registered with one of those two parties before they cast their ballots, and changes governing same-day registration allowed them to do so on election day. 

Now, however, voters who don’t belong to a major party can simply request the ballot they wish to vote on. 

“You just go in and you ask for the ballot with the candidates that most align with what you believe in, and then you get to vote that day,” Molly Swank, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, told Source NM. “You don’t have to change your registration or anything. It’s pretty cool.”

Fully “open” primaries, which some states have, allow voters to cast ballots in whichever races they wish, regardless of which party they are registered with. New Mexico’s primary is only “semi-open,” because voters can only choose between primary ballots of the state’s two major parties, Democrat and Republican. State law allows only major parties to have primary elections. Voters registered with either of the major parties can’t change their affiliation once voting begins.

With SB 16’s passage, New Mexico is one of more than a dozen states with semi-open primaries.

In addition to allowing “decline to state” voters to cast ballots in the primaries, the change will grant another option to voters registered with minor parties. In the past, those voters who wished to use same-day registration to vote in Democratic or Republican primary elections had to register with one of those two parties. 

Now, voters registered with minor parties can register on June 2 as “decline to state” and still vote in either of the Democratic or Republican primaries.  

“Decline to state” absentee voters will be able to request a ballot from the Secretary of State’s Office or local county clerks, as usual, and will be allowed to choose either Democratic or Republican primary ballots to be sent their way, Swank said. 

According to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office, the share of “decline to state” voters has steadily increased over the last year or so. 

In December 2024, a little more than 330,000 New Mexicans were listed as “decline to state” voters comprising 23.5% of the state electorate, according to Secretary of State data. As of April, approximately 378,000 or 26.6 %, were “decline to state.” 

In addition to unaffiliated voters, roughly 40% of New Mexico’s 1.4 million registered voters are Democrats; about 31% are Republicans and 2% are registered with minor parties.

Patrick Lohmann is a reporter for Source New Mexico.