voting rights

In New Mexico, only those registered with a major political party can vote in its primary elections. A bill moving through the state Legislature would change that for voters who aren’t affiliated with a party, or who “decline to state.”

New Mexico in 2023 granted voting rights to people who had completed prison terms for felonies but were still on probation or parole. At a rally outside the Roundhouse Monday, advocates called for those rights to be extended to people still serving time.

The upcoming ballot in Bernalillo county is packed so full of information, the County Clerk has said she’ll be providing special lighting and a magnifying glass in voting booths so voters can actually read the 7 point print. KUNM’s Daniel Montano sat down with Starlyn Brown, with the League of Women Voters of Central New Mexico, who provide non-partisan voting information, to talk about what voters can expect when they walk up to a booth on election day.

The Senate passed a wide-ranging bill Wednesday to expand voting rights in New Mexico with Republicans in opposition. A similar bill stalled on the Senate floor last year after a Republican filibuster.

U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján and Representative Melanie Stansbury were in Santa Fe Tuesday to address legislators. They both highlighted how they have helped the state at the federal level and urged lawmakers to work on those same issues at home.

Democratic sponsors of the New Mexico Voting Rights Act say more people would be registered to vote and have access to the ballot were it to become law. Many Republicans argued on the House floor late into the night Tuesday that certain provisions could compromise election security. The House backed the bill after three hours of debate.

As some states push to roll back voting rights and election deniers work to overturn election results, democracy itself is at stake in statehouses around the country. On the next Let's Talk New Mexico, we'll discuss how legislators could reshape democracy in our state.

A bill that would expand voting rights in New Mexico has lost more key provisions as it moves forward in the state Senate.

Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham expressed optimism Wednesday that legislators will embrace her proposals for tax cuts with a little over a week left in the annual regular legislative session, coupled with disbelief that Democratic legislators are hesitating to back major crime-fighting initiatives.

Legislation moving through the state Senate aims to make absentee voting easier. The proposal reflects a new study that shows more than three times as many New Mexicans voted this way in the 2020 election.