On June 3, David Crum, an independent voter in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, filed a lawsuit in lower state court, alleging that the New Mexico Constitution requires that independent voters be allowed to vote in partisan primaries. Crum v Duran, d202-cv-2014-03730.
The New Mexico Constitution, Article Seven, section one, says, “Every person who is a qualified elector pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the United States and a citizen thereof shall be qualified to vote in all elections in New Mexico, subject to residency and registration requirements.”
New Mexico was one of the last states to have partisan primaries. Until 1938, all parties nominated by convention. The state will probably defend the current closed primary law by saying that a partisan primary is not an election; instead it is a means for a political party to nominate candidates. The New Mexico Election Code defines many terms, but it does not define “primary election”, “election”, or “primary.”
The Supreme Court in cases such as United States v Classic, Smith v Allwright, Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut have affirmed that a primary election is an election. The 24th Amendment specifies a primary as a type of election (“primary or other election”).