Source: Ballot Access News

Think New Mexico, a non-partisan think tank, has asked the Republican Party of New Mexico, and also the Democratic Party of New Mexico, to amend their bylaws and let independent voters participate in their primaries. See this story. New Mexico was one of the last states in the nation to even have primaries. Until 1938, all parties nominated by convention. Primaries have existed since 1938, but have always been Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

The New Mexico legislature adjourned for the year, early on Saturday afternoon, March 16. SB 276, the bill to restore the straight-ticket device, failed to become law, even though it had passed the State Senate and a House Committee. It never received a vote on the House floor. Thanks to Alan Woodruff for this news.

The bill to ease ballot access also failed to pass, but that was no surprise, because Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

New Mexico State Senator Howie Morales (D-Silver City) has introduced SB 218. It provides that candidates for federal and state office may pay a filing fee instead of filing a petition. The bill applies equally to candidates seeking the nomination of a party that nominates by primary, and also to candidates who have been nominated by a minor party convention, and also to independent candidates. The bill is fairly short but says it applies to all nominating petitions dealt with in Chapter Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

Jon Barrie, founder of the Independent American Party of New Mexico, and that party’s U.S. Senate nominee this year, has joined the Constitution Party and is now the state chair of the New Mexico Constitution Party. Barrie polled 3.63% for U.S. Senate in New Mexico last month, the best showing for a minor party or independent U.S. Senate candidate in that state since 1996, when the Green Party polled 4.39% for U.S. Senate. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

It appears that Gary Johnson polled his highest share of the vote in the United States in Torrance County, New Mexico. He polled 5.97% in that county. Within Torrance County, his best precinct was precinct 15, which is in Moriarty, New Mexico. Moriarty has approximately 2,000 people and is 40.8% Hispanic. Johnson polled 8.98% in that precinct.

Torrance County is in the center of New Mexico and is fairly close to both Albuquerque and Santa Fe, Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

Early this year, Rocky Anderson founded the Justice Party and was nominated as its presidential candidate. His attempts to get on various state ballots were helped when four one-state parties which were already ballot-qualified nominated him as their presidential candidate. These four parties were the Connecticut Independent Party, the Michigan Natural Law Party, the New Mexico Independent Party, and the Oregon Progressive Party. All four parties had nominated Ralph Nader for President in 2008. Read more »

Source: New Mexico Watchdog (via Ballot Access News)

In a statewide poll conducted 12 days before the presidential election, Barack Obama still maintains a comfortable lead on Mitt Romney while the former two-term governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson, who’s running as the Libertarian Party candidate is polling at 5 percent.

Here are the results of the poll released by the Albuquerque Journal that was conducted on 662 voters in New Mexico between Oct. 23-25 by Research and Polling Inc.: Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

Several recent New Mexico polls for the U.S. Senate race have shown Independent American Party nominee Jon Barrie at 9%. These polls also generally show the Democratic nominee, Martin Heinrich, hovering near 50%, and Republican nominee Heather Wilson, the Republican nominee, at or near 40%.

Barrie is the first minor party or independent candidate for U.S. Senate to appear on the New Mexico ballot since 1996. The Independent American Party of New Mexico is not affiliated with any party Read more »

Source: Independent Political Report

Independent surveys this week by the Democrat and Republican U.S. Senate candidates show independent Jon Barrie scoring 9 percent in the three way contest to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman.

According to GOP pollster Glen Bolger, former U.S. Representative Heather Wilson is holding down 42 percent of the vote to Democratic Representative Martin Heinrich’s 43 percent. Barrie, running under the Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

On August 28, a lower New Mexico state court ruled that Independent American Party U.S. Senate nominee Jon Barrie should be on the November ballot. He will be the first person on a general election ballot for U.S. Senate in New Mexico (other than the Democratic and Republican nominees) since 1996. The 4-page decision interprets New Mexico law to mean that signatures are valid even if the voter had moved and had not yet re-registered at his or her new address, assuming there is no reason to suspect Read more »