Student Voting Guide | New Mexico
Registration
http://www.sos.state.nm.us/sos-elections.html
Your registration form must be postmarked or received by 28 days before the election.[1] You can register to vote if you will be 18 by the next election.[2]
Residency
New Mexico law defines a voter’s residence as “that place in which his habitation is fixed, and to which, whenever he is absent, he has the intention to return.”[3] New Mexico law recognizes that you might have more than one residence, but says you can only have one residence for purposes of voting.[4] When determining residency for voting purposes, New Mexico courts require “significant physical presence,” but the courts have also looked at a person’s intent to make a place their voting residence and their interaction with and commitment to their communities.[5] The intent to return to your New Mexico voting residence must be a definite one,[6] but the courts have said that you do not have to have a permanent intention to make a place your home.[7]
At School. If you spend most of your time at school in New Mexico, are involved in your school community, and intend to make it your primary residence, then you should be able to establish voting residency under New Mexico law.
The Attorney General has specifically recognized that students “have the right to register and vote in the community where they attend school,” even if you leave the state for the summer.[8] New Mexico’s definition of residence prohibits someone who is in the state for “temporary purposes only” from voting;[9] but the AG has said that this cannot be used to bar students from voting at their colleges. The AG also stated that students who do not have a definite plan after graduation should be allowed to register to vote in the state.[10] The AG provides a list of factors that registrars could use to determine students’ voting residency, which include: where your car is registered; where you filed your taxes; the address on your driver’s license; where you keep your belongings; and your willingness to take an oath that you are a resident.[11]
At Home. Students who lived in New Mexico before moving elsewhere to attend school, and who wish to establish or keep their New Mexico voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ New Mexico address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, New Mexico allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the district to attend school, and the only way you will lose this residency is by establishing residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered abandonment of residency in New Mexico, some judges or officials might view it as such. New Mexico law considers voting in another state to be an abandonment of New Mexico residency,[12] and students who have voted in other states will have to re-establish New Mexico residency if they wish to vote there.
Challenges to Residency. If your registration is refused by the county clerk on the basis of residency, you may bring an appeal to the district court within 30 days.[13] You may appeal the decision of that court to the court of appeals and to the state’s Supreme Court.[14] Your eligibility to vote can also be challenged on the basis of residency at least 42 days prior to the election by the Secretary of State, the county chairman of a major political party or any twenty voters of your county. They have to file the petition in court, and a hearing will be scheduled within five to ten days; the court will hear evidence and can order your registration cancelled.[15]
Your eligibility can be challenged at the polls by a poll worker or a partisan challenger.[16] The elections judges will then vote on the challenge; unless they all agree you are ineligible, you will be allowed to vote a regular ballot. [17] If they unanimously agree you are ineligible, your ballot will be marked “rejected.”[18]
Identification
New Mexico has two ID requirements: one that applies to first-time voters who register by mail, and one that applies to all voters. First time voters who register by mail must show ID either when they submit their registrations, when they arrive at the polls, or when they mail in their absentee ballot.[19] Acceptable forms of ID include: a current and valid photo ID; a current utility bill; a bank statement; a government check; a paycheck; a student ID card; or other government document, including identification issued by an Indian nation or tribe, that shows your name and address.[20] Student IDs will be accepted, as will any bill with your address on it, including cell phone bills and online printouts.[21] If you do not have any of these forms of ID at the polls, you will have to vote a provisional ballot, which will only be counted if you return and present ID to the county clerk before the polls close.[22]
All other voters are asked to show one of the following kinds of ID:[23] any current photo ID; a current utility bill; a government check; a paycheck; a student ID; a bank statement; or other government ID (including ID from an Indian tribe), which shows your name and address (but the address does not have to match your voting address).[24] If you cannot show one of those forms of ID, you can also make a written or verbal statement of your name, date of birth and Social Security number, and you will be allowed to vote normally.
Absentee Voting
New Mexico is a no-fault absentee voting state – you do not need to give a reason for voting absentee.[25] If you are a first time voter and you did not submit a copy of your identification with your registration form, you must submit it with your absentee ballot.[26] Your application must be received by the Friday before the election.[27] Your ballot must be received by the county clerk by 7 p.m. on Election Day.[28] Neither your application nor your ballot need be witnessed.
Early Voting
As a convenience to voters, New Mexico has early voting beginning on the 3rd Saturday before an election and ending on the Saturday before Election Day.[29] At early voting sites, you can vote any precinct’s ballot for that county. If you do not consider your school address to be your permanent address, or if you have not changed your residence yet, then early voting provides an opportunity to vote a ballot at the residence from which you are absent.
Last Updated in April 2010
[1] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-4-8.
[2] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-4-2.
[3] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-1-7(A) (West 2010).
[4] See, e.g., Apodaca v. Chavez, 109 N.M. 610 (N.M. 1990); State ex rel. Magee v. Williams, 57 N.M. 588, 592 (N.M. 1953).
[5] See, Apodaca v. Chavez, 109 N.M. 610 (N.M. 1990).
[6] Kiehne v. Atwood, 93 N.M. 657, 662 (N.M. 1979).
[7] Klutts v. Jones, 21 N.M. 720, 728 (N.M. 1916).
[8] 1971 Op. Att’y Gen. N.M. 181 (1971 N.M. AG LEXIS 875).
[9] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-1-7(G) (West 2010).
[10] 1971 Op. Att’y Gen. N.M. 181.
[11] 1971 Op. Att’y Gen. N.M. 181.
[12] N.M. Stat. Ann. §§ 1-1-7(H) (West 2010).
[13] N.M. Stat. Ann. §§ 1-4-21, 39-3-1.1(C).
[14] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 39-3-1.1.
[15] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-4-22 (West 2010).
[16] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-12-20.
[17] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-12-20.
[18] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-12-22.
[19] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-6-5 (West 2010).
[20] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-4-5.1.
[21] Interview with Manuel Vildasol, Office of the New Mexico Secretary of State (July 7, 2008).
[22] N.M. Stat. Ann § 1-12-7.1, 1-12-8, 1-12-10; N.M. Reg. § 1.10.22.8(H).
[23] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-12-7.1 (West 2010).
[24] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-1-24.
[25] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-6-3.
[26] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-6-5.
[27] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-6-5.
[28] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-6-10.
[29] N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-6-5.7(1).
