A. To qualify as a political party in New Mexico, each political party through its governing body shall adopt rules providing for the organization and government of that party and shall file the rules with the secretary of state. Uniform rules shall be adopted throughout the state by the county organizations of that party, where a county organization exists, and shall be filed with the county clerks. At the same time the rules are filed with the secretary of state, the governing body of the political party shall also file with the secretary of state a petition containing the hand-printed names, signatures, addresses of registration and counties of residence of at least one-half of one percent of the total votes cast for the office of governor at the preceding general election who declare by their signatures on the petition that they are voters of New Mexico and that they desire the party to be a qualified political party in New Mexico. Blank petition forms shall be available at any time from the secretary of state.

B. Each county political party organization may adopt supplementary rules insofar as they do not conflict with the uniform state rules or do not abridge the lawful political rights of any person. Such supplementary rules shall be filed with the county clerk and the secretary of state in the same manner as other rules are filed.

C. A qualified political party shall cease to be qualified for the purposes of the Election Code [Chapter 1 NMSA 1978] if two successive general elections are held without at least one of the party's candidates on the ballot or if the total votes cast for the party's candidates for governor or president of the United States, provided that the party has a candidate seeking election to either of these offices, in a general election do not equal at least one-half of one percent of the total votes cast for the office of governor or president of the United States, as applicable. No later than March 15 of an odd-numbered year, the secretary of state shall send notice of nonqualification to the state chair of any political party that fails to remain qualified. The notice shall be delivered by registered mail to the last known address of the state chair of the political party, and a copy shall be kept in the secretary of state's file of parties qualified in New Mexico.

D. The secretary of state shall then notify all county clerks of the removal and nonqualification of the political party and shall post the notice on the web site maintained by the secretary of state. The secretary of state shall within forty-five days notify by mail all voters registered as members of such party of the removal and nonqualification of the party.

E. To requalify, the party shall again comply with the provisions of the Election Code dealing with filing requirements for political parties.

History: 1953 Comp., § 3-7-2, enacted by Laws 1969, ch. 240, § 145; 1975, ch. 255, § 97; 1979, ch. 378, § 4; 1981, ch. 141, § 1; 1989, ch. 392, § 16; 1990, ch. 39, § 1; 1995, ch. 124, § 8; 2011, ch. 137, § 49.

The 2011 amendment, effective July 1, 2011, required the secretary of state to make blank petition forms available at all times and to send notice of nonqualification to the state chair of any political party that fails to remain qualified and to post the notice on the secretary of state's web site and imposed a forty-five day deadline for sending notice to registered voters who are members of the party.

The 1995 amendment, effective January 1, 1996, inserted "where a county organization exists" and made a minor stylistic change in the second sentence of Subsection A, and inserted "provided that the party has a candidate seeking election to either of these offices" in the second sentence of Subsection C.

The 1990 amendment, effective March 1, 1990, substituted "desire the party to be a qualified political party in New Mexico" for "support the official recognition of that party" at the end of Subsection A and, in Subsection C, substituted the first two sentences for the former first sentence which read "Beginning with the general election in 1988, if two successive general elections are held without at least one candidate from the qualified political party on the ballot or that party does not receive at least one-half of one percent of the total votes cast for the office of governor or president, the party will no longer be considered 'qualified' for purposes of the Election Code."

Constitutionality. — Subsection A's former requirement that a new political party must provide petitions containing 500 signatures from registered voters who declare that they are members of that party was unconstitutional, imposing an unnecessary burden on those signatories' First Amendment rights. Workers World Party v. Vigil-Giron, 693 F. Supp. 989 (D.N.M. 1988).

Maintaining major party status. — To maintain recognition as a major political party in an upcoming general election, a political party must satisfy the same requirements necessary for initial recognition as a major political party. The party must: 1) have run at least one candidate in one of the last two general elections, with its candidate for governor or U.S. president, if any, having received the statutorily prescribed minimum number of votes, 2) have a candidate who received, in the last preceding general election, the min imum number of votes required, and 3) have in its membership on the day of the primary election proclamation registered voters sufficient to satisfy the minimum membership requirement. 1996 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 96-01.