It's Official: New Mexico Has Opened Its Primaries to Independent Voters

SANTA FE, N.M. - As of Monday, New Mexico has officially moved away from closed partisan primaries and has adopted semi-open primaries that allow more than 330,000 independent voters to participate in critical taxpayer-funded elections after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed reform into law.

SB 16 was approved by the New Mexico Legislature at the end of the 2025 legislative session. The bill requires registered party members to vote in their respective party's primary, but voters registered outside a political party can pick the party ballot of their choice.

Hence why it is referred to as a semi-open system.

"Opening primary elections by allowing voters registered as independent or unaffiliated to participate in taxpayer-funded elections improves voting fairness and, in turn, democracy,” said State Sen. Majority Leader Peter Wirth.

The governor also voiced her support of the bill ahead of signing it into law. She said New Mexico has not been able to effectively govern and in order to do so the state needed policymakers who were willing to put in the work for voters.

She said open primaries will "give New Mexicans more opportunity" and added that she believed in the policy.