The last day to register to vote for the November 2018 Midterm Election is Tuesday, Oct. 9.
The midterm election is less than 30 days away, and according to the New Mexico Secretary of State Website, there are more than 1.25 million registered voters in New Mexico as of Sept. 2018 — 45.8 percent registered as Democrat, 0.7 percent registered as Libertarian, 30.4 percent as Republican, 22 percent registered as Independent and 1 percent registered as Other.
New Mexico state law requires voting registration to cease 28 days before the election.
Eligible voters are encouraged to register online at NMVote.org. If you are registered, you can also update voter information online.
To register online, voters need to input the following:
- A valid state ID;
- A social security number;
- Date of birth;
- A current residential address;
- Name and gender.
On Tuesday, Sept. 25, National Register to Vote Day, the Secretary of State’s office mailed over 50,000 reminders to unregistered voters. In a press release regarding the matter, SOS Maggie Toulouse Oliver said citizens who turn 18 years- old before the election are eligible to register to vote while still 17 years old.
“We’ve seen great success with our online voter registration portal at NMvote.org and we highly encourage any unregistered New Mexican to log on and get registered,” Oliver wrote.
Unregistered voter information was gathered through the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase voter accuracy and facilitate voter registration.
Currently, 23 states and the District of Columbia are registered with ERIC — each state has their own ERIC Board of Directors.
On Sept. 27, the Secretary of State’s office released a press release stating that sample ballots are now available for this election cycle.
“Sample ballots are a great tool to help New Mexicans research the candidates and issues before they vote and are a helpful guide to save voters time in the voting booth,” the press release said.
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Sample ballots can be viewed online at NMvote.org.
Listed below are important dates from the Secretary of State’s website:
Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018
- Deadline to register to participate in the 2018 General Election
- County clerks will begin sending absentee ballots
- In-person voting will be available at each county clerk’s office during normal business hours.
- In Bernalillo County, in-person voting will be available at the Clerk’s Annex.
Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018
- Countywide early voting begins
Friday, Nov. 2, 2018
- Last day for county clerks to send absentee ballots to voters
Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018
- Last day of countywide early voting
Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018
- General Election Day
- Last day for voters to return an absentee ballot to their county clerk’s office or an Election Day polling location.
Anthony Jackson is a freelance reporter with the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @TonyAnjackson.
