Candidates & Campaigns

Proclamation

Pursuant to 1-22-4(C), NMSA 1978, the Secretary of State shall by resolution issue a public proclamation in Spanish and English calling a regular location election.
Click HERE for the 2023 Regular Local Election Proclamation – English
Click HERE for the 2023 Regular Local Election Proclamation – Spanish
Click HERE for the 2023 Regular Local Election Proclamation Amendment – English
Click HERE for the 2023 Regular Local Election Proclamation Amendment – Spanish

2023 Regular Local Election Overview

The Regular Local Election will be held on Tuesday, November 7, 2023.

When to File

Candidate filing day for all local offices for the 2023 Regular Local Election is TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2023 – between 9:00am and 5:00pm.

Where to File – Proper Filing Officer

Declarations of candidacy and candidate qualification documents will be filed with the county clerk of the county in which the candidate resides.

What to File

Each Candidate filing to appear on the Regular Local Election ballot must submit a Declaration of Candidacy Form (and any other required forms) to their proper filing officer (see above section “Where to File – Proper Filing Officer”), during the designated hours.

Click HERE for the 2023 Regular Local Election Candidate Guide

Nominating Petitions

We encourage candidates or their representatives to contact the local government for which they are running for office, to determine if nominating petitions will be needed for candidacy.  Gathering nominating petitions is not required pursuant to state law but local ordinances may require it.  Should a candidate be required to gather signatures, it is essential that candidates use only the forms published by our Office.

Campaign Committee Registration

Pursuant to Article 19 (Campaign Reporting Act) of New Mexico most candidates for local governments are not required to register campaign committees online at the New Mexico Secretary of States campaign reporting system.

**IMPORTANT FOR MUNICIPAL/SPECIAL DISTRICT CANDIDATES**

We encourage candidates or their representatives to contact the local government for which they are running for office, to determine if campaign reporting is a requirement in accordance with local ordinance.

**IMPORTANT FOR SCHOOL/COLLEGE BOARD CANDIDATES**

Pursuant to Article 22A (School District Campaign Reporting Act) of New Mexico Election Law, certain offices are covered within the act that are required to create an online campaign reporting login at https://login.cfis.sos.state.nm.us/.  These covered offices that are required to report are:   a position of board of education member of a school district that has an enrollment of twelve thousand students or more, or the position of board member of a community college organized or operating pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 21, Article 13 or Article 16 of New Mexico state law.  All candidates will need to create an account whether they receive campaign contributions or make campaign expenditures or choose not to.  Any candidate who does not raise money or spend money will need to file a no activity report for each reporting period.

Filing Deadlines for School/College Board Candidates:

• 1st report due: Tuesday, October 17, 2023
• 2nd report due: Thursday, December 7, 2023

School districts required to file:

• Albuquerque Public Schools
• Las Cruces Public Schools
• Rio Rancho Public Schools
• Gadsden Public Schools
• Gallup-McKinley

College districts required to file:

• Central New Mexico Community College
• Clovis Community College
• Luna Community College
• Mesalands Community College
• New Mexico Junior College
• San Juan College
• Santa Fe Community College
• Southeast New Mexico College