UPDATE, Feb. 19, 2025: The full Senate passed Senate Bill 16 Wednesday afternoon on a 27-11 vote.
A bill that would open up New Mexico primary elections to independent voters has cleared the Senate and now heads to the House for consideration.
In New Mexico, only those registered with a major political party can vote in its primary elections. Senate Bill 16 would change that for voters who aren’t affiliated with a party, or who “decline to state.”
”On Primary Election Day, such a voter would choose a ballot from one of the parties holding a primary,” bill sponsor Sen. Natalie Figueroa (D-Albuquerque) explained to her colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday. “It’s generally referred to as ‘semi-open.’”
Independent voters, who make up nearly a quarter of New Mexico’s electorate, can already participate in its closed primaries using same-day registration. They can register with a party immediately before voting in its primary, and then change right back.
“What that creates for our clerks is a headache,” Figueroa said, referring to local elections administrators.
Her proposal would instead allow unaffiliated voters to participate without ever changing their registration to a party they do not actually belong to.
“In a conversation with a veteran, he told me, ‘Why do I have to lie? Why do you make a law that forces me to tell a lie and say I am a Democrat when I am not, just so I can vote?’” Figueroa said. “That struck a chord with me. It’s an unnecessary hurdle between people and their right to vote.”
Critics of the change, including Sen. Ant Thornton (R-Sandia Park), say voters not registered with a political party should not have a say in its affairs.
“To have some other group come in and say, ‘I’m unaffiliated, but I’m going to decide which of these candidates your party is going to select,’ I think we are actually disempowering the people who have put their heart and soul into candidacy,” he told his colleagues before voting against the measure.
Under an amendment to the bill, members of minor parties would still have to change their registration to vote in a major party’s primary.
