Constitution of New Mexico (2025 publisher edition) — ARTICLE VII

Publisher edition notice: This collection preserves the complete Secretary of State's 2025 compilation, identifying amendments through 2024, including the publisher's source notes and annotations. Later amendments have not been independently verified.

ARTICLE VII

ARTICLE VII Elective Franchise Sec. 1. Qualifications of voters; absentee voting; school elections; registration. 2. Qualifications for holding office. 3. Religious and racial equality protected; re- strictions on amendments. 4. Residence. 5. Election by ballot; plurality elects candi- date.

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88© 2025 State of New Mexico. New Mexico Compilation Commission. All rights reserved. Article VII – Elective Franchise Section 1. [Qualifications of voters; absentee voting; school elections; registration.] A. Every person who is a qualified elector pursuant to the constitution and laws of the United States and a citizen thereof shall be qualified to vote in all elec- tions in New Mexico, subject to residency and registration requirements provided by law, except as restricted by statute either by reason of criminal conviction for a fel- ony or by reason of mental incapacity, be- ing limited only to those persons who are unable to mark their ballot and who are concurrently also unable to communicate their voting preference. The legislature may enact laws providing for absentee vot- ing by qualified electors. All school elec- tions shall be held at different times from partisan elections. B. The legislature shall have the power to require the registration of the qualified electors as a requisite for voting and shall regulate the manner, time and places of vot- ing. The legislature shall enact such laws as will secure the secrecy of the ballot and the purity of elections and guard against the abuse of elective franchise. Not more than

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89© 2025 State of New Mexico. New Mexico Compilation Commission. All rights reserved. Article VII – Elective Franchise two members of the board of registration and not more than two judges of election shall belong to the same political party at the time of their appointment. (As amended November 7, 1967, November 4, 2008, No- vember 2, 2010, and November 4, 2014, as directed by N.M. Supreme Court Order No. S- 1- SC- 35524, approved September 21, 2016, in State of N.M. ex rel. League of Women Voters of N.M. v. Advisory Comm. to the N.M. Compilation Comm'n, 2017- NMSC- 025.) Sec. 2. [Qualifications for holding office.] A. Every citizen of the United States who is a legal resident of the state and is a qualified elector therein, shall be qualified to hold any elective public office except as otherwise provided in this constitution. B. The legislature may provide by law for such qualifications and standards as may be necessary for holding an appointive po- sition by any public officer or employee. C. The right to hold public office in New Mexico shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex, and wherever the masculine gender is used in this con-

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90© 2025 State of New Mexico. New Mexico Compilation Commission. All rights reserved. Article VII – Elective Franchise stitution, in defining the qualifications for specific offices, it shall be construed to in- clude the feminine gender. The payment of public road poll tax, school poll tax or ser- vice on juries shall not be made a prerequi- site to the right of a person to vote or hold office. (As amended September 20, 1921, September 19, 1961, and November 6, 1973.) Sec. 3. [Religious and racial equality protected; restrictions on amendments.] The right of any citizen of the state to vote, hold office or sit upon juries, shall never be restricted, abridged or impaired on account of religion, race, language or color, or inability to speak, read or write the En- glish or Spanish languages except as may be otherwise provided in this constitution; and the provisions of this section and of Section One of this article shall never be amended except upon a vote of the people of this state in an election at which at least three- fourths of the electors voting in the whole state, and at least two-thirds of those voting in each county of the state, shall vote for such amendment.

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91© 2025 State of New Mexico. New Mexico Compilation Commission.

All rights reserved.

Article VII – Elective Franchise

Sec. 4. [Residence.]

No person shall be deemed to have ac-

quired or lost residence by reason of his

presence or absence while employed in the

service of the United States or of the state,

nor while a student at any school.

Sec. 5. [Election by ballot; plurality

elects candidate.]

1. All elections shall be by ballot.
2. The legislature may provide by law

for runoff elections for all elections other

than municipal, primary or statewide elec-

tions. If the legislature does not provide for

runoff elections, the person who receives

the highest number of votes for any office,

except as provided in this section, and ex-

cept in the cases of the offices of governor

and lieutenant governor, shall be declared

elected to that office. The joint candidates

receiving the highest number of votes for

the offices of governor and lieutenant gover-

nor shall be declared elected to those offices.

C. In a municipal election, the candi-

date that receives the most votes for an of-

fice shall be declared elected to that office,

unless the municipality has provided for

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92© 2025 State of New Mexico. New Mexico Compilation Commission. All rights reserved. Article VIII – Taxation and Revenue runoff elections. A municipality may pro- vide for runoff elections as follows: (1) a municipality that has not adopted a charter pursuant to Article 10, Section 6 of the constitution of New Mexico may pro- vide by ordinance for runoff elections; (2) a municipality that has adopted a charter pursuant to Article 10, Section 6 of the constitution of New Mexico, and prior to the adoption of this amendment the char- ter provided for runoff elections, shall hold runoff elections pursuant to the charter; or (3) a municipality that adopts or has adopted a charter pursuant to Article 10, Section 6 of the constitution of New Mex- ico may, subsequent to the adoption of this amendment, provide for runoff elections as provided in its charter. (As amended, No- vember 6, 1962 and November 2, 2004.)