Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver Provides Primary Election Day Information

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
1 JUNE 2026 

Contact:
Lindsey Bachman
New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office
505-479-2626, lindsey.bachman@sos.nm.gov

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver Provides Primary Election Day Information

SANTA FE – Ahead of tomorrow’s Primary Election Day, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver is providing the following information for voters and media outlets.

As of today, more than 181,900 eligible voters have voted in New Mexico’s 2026 Primary Election, including more than 18,500 voters not registered with a qualified political party. This is the first year independent voters can participate in the state’s primary election without updating their voter registration.

Semi-open Primary

New Mexico has semi-open primary elections, effective July 1, 2025. This means that:

1. Major party voters may participate in the primary elections of the major party with which they are registered and cannot change the party on their voter registration to vote in the primary elections of another major party.
2. Voters who have not registered with a qualified major or minor party (including “declined-to-state” or “independent” voters) can participate by selecting a major party’s ballot and vote, without changing the political party on their voter registration.
3. Voters registered with a qualified minor party may update the political party on their voter registration through same day voter registration at a polling location and vote in the primary election.

Voting by Mail

The deadline to request a mailed ballot for the Primary Election has passed. If an absentee voter still has not returned a mailed ballot, they are advised to return it in-person, instead of mailing the ballot back to their County Clerk. Completed mailed ballots must be received at a polling location, official election drop box, or County Clerk’s Office no later than 7:00 pm on Election Day.

Voting In-Person

Polling places throughout the state will be open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm tomorrow. Voters can learn more about polling locations in their county, review same day voter registration requirements, see sample ballots, and more at NMVote.org.

Election Night Results

Unofficial election results will be available after 7:00 pm on the Secretary of State Office’s website.

State statute requires poll workers to pause the tabulation and tallying of ballots at 11:00 pm on Election Night. Should such a pause occur, election boards will reconvene the following day to continue their work.

Election judges, representing different political parties, manually review and count write-in votes pursuant to state law and Secretary of State procedures. Given the volume of potential write-in votes this election, the tallying and reporting of those votes is anticipated to continue after Election Day.

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