FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

PRESS CONTACTS:

 

Sila Avcil

New Mexico Open Elections & NM Voters First

(505) 697-2833

 

Molly Swank

Common Cause New Mexico

(608) 290-9157

 

3/21/2025

 

OPEN PRIMARIES BILL PASSES STATE LEGISLATURE, A HISTORIC WIN FOR DEMOCRACY IN NEW MEXICO

 

SANTA FE - Today, Senate Bill 16 (Non-Major Party Voters in Primary Elections), sponsored by Sen. Peter Wirth, Sen. Natalie Figueroa, Rep. Kathleen Cates, Sen. Antonio Maestas. Rep. Cristina Parajón, and Rep. Angelica Rubio, passed the New Mexico State Legislature after a successful floor vote in the New Mexico House of Representatives. 

 

SB16 now heads to the desk of New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. If signed, over 300,000 New Mexico Independent and Decline To State (DTS) voters will be able to choose which party's primary they want to participate in, removing the inequitable burden of having to change voter registration in order to participate in primaries. Instead, these voters will simply select a party's ballot at the primary.

 

Upon the Governor’s signature, New Mexico will join 34 other states that also have some form of an open primary process. Research suggests that these types of processes lead to stronger voter turnout and more competitive elections. Forty-five percent of U.S. voters now identify as Independent or DTS, and this affiliation is growing faster than any other party membership in the country.

 

“New Mexico made history today,” said Sila Avcil, Executive Director of New Mexico Open Elections and NM Voters First. “Thanks to our supporters, partners, coalition members, and legislators, we have taken a monumental step towards hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans gaining more access to some of our state’s most consequential elections. New Mexico, and our democracy, is better for it.”

 

“It has been a 10 year effort and tens of thousands of hours of volunteer effort to pass an open

primaries bill in New Mexico,” said Bob Perls, Founder and Board President of New Mexico Open Elections. “I want to thank the several dozen New Mexico Open Elections Board

Members over the years who kept the momentum alive.”

 

A powerful and diverse coalition of organizations across the state contributed to the successful passage of SB16 and a better New Mexico democracy. Those organizations include:

 

  • NM Voters First
  • New Mexico Open Elections
  • NM Native Vote
  • Common Cause New Mexico
  • New Mexico Asian Family Center
  • Veterans for All Voters New Mexico
  • New Mexico Forward Party
  • La Raza Unida de Nuevo México
  • Green Party of New Mexico
  • New Mexico Working Families Party
  • DPNM Veterans and Military Families Caucus
  • League of Women Voters of New Mexico
  • UNM College Democrats
  • Young Democrats of New Mexico
  • Progress Now New Mexico
  • Conservation Voters New Mexico
  • Lutheran Advocacy Ministry - New Mexico
  • Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity
  • NM Comunidades en Acción y de Fé (NMCAFé) 

 

To learn more about SB16, please visit nmopenelections.org.

 

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