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New Mexico conducts elections more reliably than any other state, says MIT project
Then-New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, left, listens as Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver discusses election poll monitoring during a 2022 news conference.
New Mexico’s elections are conducted more reliably than in any other state in the nation, according to the Elections Performance Index.
The ranking is based on the 2022 midterm elections.
The Elections Performance Index is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology project that attempts to measure election administration throughout the U.S. The project focuses on factors such as voter registration rates, post-election audits, security protocols, ballot rejection rates and wait times.
New Mexico improved its national ranking from the 2018 midterm election. That year, the Elections Performance Index ranked New Mexico No. 9 in the nation for election administration.
The 2022 report noted New Mexico’s percent of provisional ballots rejected was 0.02%, the voter registration rate increased to 80% and voting wait times were lower than the national average of 5 minutes. In New Mexico, the average voting wait time was 3.8 minutes.
While election administration may be smooth, with a required post-election audit and 1.46% of citizens deterred from voting by registration or absentee ballot problems, New Mexico’s voter turnout and voter registration are lower than the national average, according to the report.
In 2022, New Mexico’s voter turnout was 46.65%, just below the national average of 47.5% and 80.35% of eligible citizens registered to vote, below the national average of 84.42%.
“The professional election administrators who keep the polls open and the votes counted and the engine of democracy running in New Mexico are exemplary and it’s an honor to see this work recognized on the national stage,” New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said in a statement. “Alongside my incredible staff and the tireless work of our 33 county clerks and their staffs, I’m proud to have helped modernize New Mexico’s elections by finding a critical balance between voter access and election security.”
Nationwide election administration has improved significantly, according to the MIT Election Lab.
