Lieutenant Vacancy Process

State Statute on Filling a Vacancy

The process that governs filling a vacancy on the ballot is governed by the 2025 New Mexico Statutes, Chapter 1 - Elections, Article 8 - Nominations and Primary Elections

Section 1-8-8 - Vacancy on general election ballot.

Here are the applicable components of the statute:

If after a primary election, but ninety or more days before the general election, a vacancy occurs, for any cause, in the list of the nominees of a qualified political party for any public office to be filled in the general election,

The central committee of the state political party filing the name of its nominee for the office with the proper filing officer when the office is a federal office, state office, district office or multicounty legislative district office; and

The county or state central committee members making the appointment pursuant to Subsection A of this section shall be as provided for in the rules of the respective party; provided that, at a minimum, the committee shall include those members residing within the boundaries of the area to be represented by the public office.

DPNM Rules on Filling a Vacancy

Step 1. The Chair issues a call to an SCC meeting to fill the vacancy

The State Chair issues a CALL for the SCC meeting and election. Under DPNM Rules, Article I, Rule 4.3, only the State Chair can call a meeting of the SCC to fill the ballot vacancy. This process starts with the Chair’s CALL.

Step 2. The CALL goes out, minimum 30 days before the SCC meeting/election.

Per Article II, Rule 1.3, the CALL must be sent to every SCC member at least 30 days before the meeting, by mail or email (whichever method they chose). The CALL must state the date, time, and location of the meeting (plus login info if the meeting is virtual), and that the purpose of the SCC election is to fill the vacancy in the Dem. Lt. Governor position on the General Election ballot.

Step 3. The qualified electors

Article I, Rule 4.1 states that the nominee is chosen by the SCC members "from the geographical area corresponding to the jurisdiction of the office." Lt. Gov. is a statewide office, so the jurisdiction is the whole state and the entire SCC is eligible to vote.

Step 4. Establishing quorum

In accordance with Article II, Rule 1.3, SCC meetings/elections must meet two quorum requirements:

Committee quorum: 25% of SCC members

County quorum: A majority of the counties must be represented (at least one member voting from 17 of the 33 counties)

With absentee voting, quorum is met when the specified minimum of SCC members vote (at least 25% of members vote, with at least 17 county parties represented).

Step 5. Voting by non-secret ballot

One candidate will be elected as the DPNM nominee for the General election ballot.

Voting Procedures

If only one candidate runs, the SCC members vote for that candidate, or a write-in, or abstain.

If two candidates run, the SCC members vote for one of the two candidates; the candidate who receives a majority of votes is declared the winner

If three or more candidates run, the SCC members vote on a ranked-choice ballot for their preferred candidates. See Article I, Rule 5.4.4.2 for the number of choices available.

On a ranked-choice ballot, if one candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, they are declared the winner.

If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the ranked score (Borda Count) is calculated for each candidate (see Article I, Rule 5.4.4). The candidate who receives the highest ranked score is declared the winner.

Ties are broken by lot. See Article I, Rule 5.3.6.

Because SCC members are voting on behalf of their constituents, this is a non-secret ballot and cannot be made a secret ballot (Article I, Rule 5.2.2).

Voting will be done absentee via election buddy. Since the vote is going to be done absentee, we will not have proxy voting.

Per DPNM’s policy for internal elections, the voting period will be open for four days to ensure all eligible voters are able to cast their ballot.

Step 6: State Chair files the nominee with the Secretary of State

After the results are announced, the DPNM Chair files the elected nominee's name with the Secretary of State, on the SOS form, along with the new nominee's sworn declaration of candidacy and Campaign Reporting Act paperwork.

Filing to Be a Candidate

According to the Constitution of New Mexico, Article V, Section 3, a candidate must be a U.S. citizen, at least 30 years old, and must have resided continuously in New Mexico for five years immediately preceding the election.

In order to be the party’s nominee for the positions, the nominee to fill the vacancy must be a qualified New Mexico voter and must also be a registered Democrat.

Candidates interested in filling the vacancy on the ballot must register their interest with the party. Click here to fill out the DPNM form. Per party rules, DPNM must send out a list of the candidates at least 20 days prior to voting. Since July 4th is a Federal Holiday, we will be closing the nomination period on July 3rd, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. and will send candidates out shortly ahead of the July 5th deadline.

Write-in candidates will be accepted.