This message is from Ellen Pinnes and The Disability Coalition.

Election Day 2024 is Tuesday, November 5, so it’s time to get started on our Election Year “Let’s Vote!” series.  This is the first in that series and covers registering to vote.  Future emails will review other aspects of voting, so keep an eye out for them. 

Here at The Disability Coalition, we encourage members of the disability community to make their voices heard in policy-making, and voting to select the people who make those policies is a key way to do that.  And the first step in voting is to make sure you’re registered!  If you’re not sure whether you’re registered to vote in New Mexico, you can find out by going to the My Registration Information link on the Secretary of State’s website:  https://voterportal.servis.sos.state.nm.us/WhereToVote.aspx. 

Having a disability, regardless of the type of disability, doesn’t prevent you from registering and voting – you’re barred from voting only if a court order clearly takes that right away from you.  Unfortunately, people with disabilities are much less likely to vote than other groups are.  That means that the disability community is missing an important way to influence the policies that affect all of our lives.  We want to turn that around, which means that if you’re not registered to vote, you should be!  

Once you’re registered, you can vote in national, state, county and city elections in New Mexico.  In order to register to vote, you need to be 1) a citizen of the United States, 2) a resident of New Mexico, and 3) at least 18 years old on Election Day.  There’s no minimum residency requirement, so you can register even if you just moved here.  And if you’re 17 now but will turn 18 by Election Day, you can go ahead and register now.  If you’ve been convicted of a felony, you can’t vote while you’re incarcerated, but you can register and vote once you’re released. 

You can register to vote without going in person to the County Clerk’s office or a polling location up to 28 days before the election, which this year is October 8.  There are lots of ways to register, which makes it easy.

• You can register online through the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Online Voter Registration System:  https://portal.sos.state.nm.us/OVR/WebPages/InstructionsStep1.aspx
• You can mail your registration to the Secretary of State’s office.  To get the registration form, go to the link in the preceding bullet and download the form; or call the Secretary of State’s office at 1-800-477-3632 and ask them to mail it to you; or contact the County Clerk in your county to request one.  Contact information for all the County Clerks is available on the Secretary of State’s website at https://www.sos.nm.gov/voting-and-elections/voter-information-portal-nmvote-org/County-Clerk-Information/.
• You can register through an authorized individual or organization that assists with registrations and has qualified as a Third-Party Registration Agent through the Secretary of State’s office.  (If you’re not sure whether the person assisting you is a qualified Registration Agent, ask to see their notarized Voter Registration Agent Identification Form.)
• You can register in person at the County Clerk’s office in the county where you live and at Motor Vehicle Division offices and other state offices like Human Services Department (Health Care Authority) field offices. 

We recommend that you register by October 8 to make sure you can vote without difficulty and that you have the option to use a mail-in ballot rather than going to vote in person.  But if you miss the October 8 deadline, you can still register!  New Mexico now has same-day voter registration (SDR), which allows you to register on the day you vote, during early voting and on Election Day.  Same-day registration is available at the County Clerk’s office in your county and may also be available at other polling locations during early voting if the Clerk has designated an employee there to take them.  If you plan to register when you go to vote, you should call your County Clerk’s office and/or check their website for information on where same-day registrations will be accepted.  (See the second bullet above for the link to a website where you can get contact information for all the county clerks’ offices.)   On Election Day, SDR will be available at all polling locations.   

When you register in person, you’ll be asked to provide 1) a photo ID, or 2) a document showing your name and address, which can be a utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, student ID, tribal ID, or other government document.  If you register by mail, you can send a copy along with the registration form.  If you don’t submit one of these documents at the time you register, you’ll be asked to show it the first time you vote. 

The documents required for same-day registration are a little different.  You have to show one of the following:  1) a New Mexico driver’s license or ID card issued by the Motor Vehicle Division, 2) any document showing your address in the county, plus a photo ID card, OR 3) an ID card from a New Mexico post-secondary educational institution, plus a current fee statement showing the student’s address in the county. 

Once you’ve registered, your county clerk will mail you a confirmation that includes a voter ID card.  To check the status of your registration at any time (whether it’s a new one or you registered a while ago), use the My Registration Information link:  https://voterportal.servis.sos.state.nm.us/WhereToVote.aspx. 

When you register, you can choose to identify as a member of a political party.  New Mexico currently has three “major” parties (Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian) and one “minor” party (Green) that you can register with.  If you prefer not to name a particular party, you can register as “No Party” (also called “Decline to State”).  Only members of a party can vote in primary elections to select candidates for that party, but EVERYONE who is registered can vote in general elections like the one on November 5, whether or not they select a party. 

You can find lots of information on voter registration and voting in general at the Secretary of State’s website:  www.sos.nm.gov.  And if you have any difficulty in registering, contact Disability Rights New Mexico (505-256-3100 in Albuquerque, 1-800-432-4682 toll-free statewide, or by email to info@drnm.org) and they can help you resolve the problem. So make sure you’re registered to vote, and help make the voice of the disability community heard on Election Day! 

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The Disability Coalition is funded in part by the  New Mexico Developmental Disabilities Council through Federal Program funding.Additional funding is provided by The Arc of New Mexico, Disability Rights New Mexico, the Independent Living Resource Center, and New Vistas.