ONME will begin election observation efforts across 11 different municipalities
Santa Fe, NM – Observe New Mexico Elections (ONME) has trained registered voters to serve as impartial election observers while absentee and early in-person voting are underway in 11 municipalities across the state. Residents around the state will be heading to the polls for their local elections and ONME observers will be present in Alamogordo, Albuquerque, Carlsbad, Clayton, Farmington, Gallup, Las Cruces, Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Silver City and Taos. Early voting will conclude on Saturday, November 1, and Election Day is on Tuesday, November 4.
ONME is a nonpartisan election observation effort designed to increase trust and transparency in elections. ONME election observers are trained about relevant laws, procedures, and safeguards in New Mexico’s electoral process and verify that those procedures are followed consistently.
“Local elections are critical to community decision-making, and our goal is to strengthen transparency, accountability, and voter confidence by providing accurate, independent observations of how election processes are run,” said Carmen Lopez, Co-Leader of ONME. “Last year’s election observation efforts proved to be a great success, yielding a number of important insights that will help our state to continuously improve elections in the future. We look forward to continuing these successful observation efforts this fall.”
Municipal Coordinators are responsible for recruiting, training, and coordinating observers who will use structured forms, tailored for New Mexico’s election procedures, to observe at election sites. ONME is deploying over 40 early voting election observers and over 150 election day observers to monitor processes across participating municipalities.
At the close of the municipal election cycle, ONME will release a comprehensive year-end report summarizing its findings, highlighting both strengths and areas of improvement for election processes. The report will be shared publicly at the end of the year to support ongoing dialogue about election integrity and best practices.
Registered voters in New Mexico may request absentee ballots through October 28, 2025. Those ballots must be returned by the close of polls on Election Day.
For more information about ONME’s election observation initiative or to learn how to get involved, visit https://observenmelections.org/.
About Observe New Mexico Elections
The mission of Observe New Mexico Elections is to increase transparency and trust in New Mexico’s elections by training and deploying nonpartisan election observers throughout the state. Observers will report on how election laws and procedures are followed, representing all voters without interfering in the electoral process. Findings from their observations will be compiled to assess the overall quality of elections in New Mexico.