New Mexico

Snapshot: New Mexico receives a middling score for voting access and a good score on ballot security. Its elected officials receive a good score for how they responded to claims about the 2020 election, which will be at the center of the race this fall for top elections officer.

Ease of Voting

Some measures to expand access
5 out of 7 benchmarks

Ballot Security

Many measures to ensure accuracy and security
7 out of 8 benchmarks

What Politicians Say

Few responses that undermined the 2020 election
3 out of 4 benchmarks

Republican Secretary of State nominee Audrey Trujillo has called Biden’s win a “coup” and repeated conspiracy theories about voter fraud.

Trujillo, who faces incumbent Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver in November, won the GOP nomination after running unopposed.

On social media, Trujillo has called President Joe Biden a “pedophile” and his supporters “demons,” said the 2020 election was “theft and fraud” and referred to “cheating” Democrats.

She has proposed ending early voting and vote-by-mail and hand-counting all ballots, a process that has been found to be less accurate, more expensive and dramatically slower.


Ease of Voting

Is the state making it easy for eligible voters to register and cast a ballot?
Met 0 out of 0 benchmarks
How New Mexico compares to other states
New Mexico
Other states
← Easier to vote
Harder →
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Number of total benchmarks met

A 2021 law requires at least one polling place on reservations and other tribal land and bars closing or consolidating any without written agreement of the Indian nation.

In 2020, the state had the highest rate of rejection for mail-in ballots in the country, largely centered in three of the state’s four largest counties.


Ballot Security

Is the state following best practices to ensure ballot counting is accurate and timely?
Met 0 out of 0 benchmarks
How New Mexico compares to other states
New Mexico
Other states
← More secure
Less secure →
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Number of total benchmarks met

New Mexico has made no legislative changes that would affect election security.


How Politicians Responded to the 2020 Election

What did the state do in the aftermath of Trump's defeat?
Met 0 out of 0 benchmarks
How New Mexico compares to other states
New Mexico
Other states
← Fewer efforts to undermine 2020 election
More →
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Number of total benchmarks met

New Mexico’s only Republican US representative, Yvette Herrell, objected to Biden electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania.


Read the full methodology
Story by: Ryan Teague Beckwith and Bill Allison
Graphics by: Paul Murray, Allison McCartney and Mira Rojanasakul
With assistance by: Rachael Dottle, Marie Patino, Jenny Zhang, Gregory Korte, Romy Varghese, Vincent Del Giudice, Nathan Crooks, Margaret Newkirk, Shruti Date Singh, David Welch, Elise Young, Dina Bass, Brendan Walsh, Carey Goldberg and Maria Wood
Editors: Wendy Benjaminson, Wes Kosova, Alex Tribou and Yue Qiu
Photo editors: Eugene Reznik, Marisa Gertz and Maria Wood
Photo credits: Getty Images, Bloomberg and AP Photo