On March 8, the New Mexico Senate Judiciary passed SB 403 unanimously. This is the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill. It makes three ballot access improvements: (1) it moves the independent candidate petition from early June to late June; (2) it tells the Secretary of State to make the petition forms for party qualification available at all times; (3) it reduces the number of signatures for a party to qualify in midterm years, from one-half of 1% of the last presidential vote, to one-half of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote. Also the bill straightens out the confusion in the existing law as to whether petition signers should list their residence address or their postal mailing address; and it directs the Secretary of State to notify parties when they lose their ballot qualification.

SB 403 had already passed the Senate Rules Committee. Now it goes to the Senate floor.