NEW MEXICO 5 Electoral Votes 
link to clickable map
Population 
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, New Mexico Secretary of State)
Total Resident Population, July 1, 2012 est.
 2,085,538
Total Registration, Oct. 19, 2012
 1,254,567 >
Dem. 596,089 (47.51%)   Rep. 395,842 (31.55%)   Other 37,534 (2.99%)   Decline to State 225,102 (17.94%)
New Mexico has: 33 counties.
Largest counties: Bernalillo, Dona Ana, Santa Fe, Sandoval, San Juan. >
Largest cities: Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe. >
[outside of Alaska, New Mexico has the highest proportion of Native Americans; 10.1% acc. to 2011 Census Bureau est.]

Government
Governor: Susana Martinez (R) elected 2010.
State Legislature: New Mexico Legislature   House: 70 seats  Senate: 42 seats
Local: Cities and Counties   NACO Counties
Native American: NM Indian Nations
U.S. House: 2D,1R - 1. M.Heinrich (D) | 2. S.Pearce (R) | 3. B.R.Luján (D)
 U.S. Senate: Tom Udall (D) elected in 2008; Jeff Bingaman (D) did not seek re-election in 2012 >. 
2012
 		U.S. Senate: Sen. Jeff Bingaman's retirement created a high-profile contest.  Rep. Martin Heinrich (D) defeated former Rep. Heather Wilson (R) by 395,717 votes (51.01%) to 351,260 (45.28%) and 28,199 (3.63%) for Jon Ross Barrie (Ind.Am.).
U.S. House: In the race to succeed Rep. Heinrich, Bernalillo County Commissioner Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) defeated former state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones (R) by 58.92% to 40.83%.
State Legislature: All 70 House seats and 42 Senate seats were up.  Democrats maintained majorities in both chambers; the House went from 36D, 33R, 1I to 38D, 32R and the Senate from 28D, 14R to 25D, 17R.
Ballot Measures: Voters decided on five fairly technical constitutional amendments and three bond questions.

State of New Mexico
Secretary of State
NAEIP

Constitution Party of NM
Democratic Party of NM
Green Party of NM
Libertarian Party of NM
Republican Party of NM

Albuquerque Journal
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TV, Radio

Joe Monahan

Politics1-NM
Ballotpedia-NM


 Land of Enchantment
General Election -- Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Voting Eligible Population*: 1,432,375.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 54.7%.

Voter Registration Deadline: October 9, 2012.
Absentee and Early Voting: Begins October 9.  No excuse is required to vote with an absentee ballot.  Early voting continued through November 3, 2012.
 
Official Results >
 
+Obama/Biden (Dem.)
 415,335
(52.99)
Romney/Ryan (Rep.)
 335,788
 (42.84)
Goode/Clymer (Const.)
 982
 (0.13)
Johnson/Gray (Lib.) 27,788
 (3.55)
Anderson/Rodriguez (Ind.)
 1,174
 (0.15)
Stein/Honkala (Grn.)
 2,691
 (0.34)
Total........783,758




Overview: In 2008, with Bill Richardson (D) as governor, Obama won the state's five electoral votes with a 15-percentage point margin.  In 2010, New Mexicans elected the Republican, Susana Martinez as governor.  Was the political terrain shifting?  The state's Hispanic population continued to grow; according to the Census Bureau in 2011, 46.7% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino origin.  New Mexico was one of thirteen states where the RNC established a Victory organization, but by Sept. 20 they pulled several staff out (reported by CNN +).  The presidential campaign in New Mexico turned out to be relatively quiet.  Obama won with a plurality of 79,547 votes (10.15 percentage points).  None of the Democratic principals visited during the general election period.  Mitt Romney did an event at an oilfield business in Hobbs on Aug.  23.  Gary Johnson did a couple of events in Albuquerque on Oct. 9, and he and running mate Jim Gray held their Election Night party there.  Johnson only managed 3.54% of the vote in his home state.
Obama  |  Romney
BALLOT [PDF]

Primary -- Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Democrats

Official Results
Barack Obama 122,958  100.0%

 Republicans
23 Delegates: 3 RNC; 11 at-large; 9 by CD (3 x 3 CDs).
1.00% of the 2,286 Delegates.

Official Results
Ron Paul
9,363
10.4%
Newt Gingrich
5,298
5.9%
+Mitt Romney
65,935
73.2%
Rick Santorum
9,517
10.6%
Total
90,113

Parties had the option of selecting delegates through a presidential preference primary held on the same date as the state primary (in June) or "in accordance with the selection procedure" of the party.

General Election -- Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Voting Eligible Population*: 1,376,025.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 60.3%.
Absentee
 172,136
 20.66%
In-person early
 347,159
 41.66%
Regular precincts
 314,070
 37.69%
Total votes cast
 833,365

Total Registration: 1,185,439.
                        Official Results >

+Obama/Biden (Dem.) 472,422
 (56.91)
McCain/Palin (Rep.) 346,832
(41.78)
McKinney/Clemente (Grn.) 1,552
(0.19)
Baldwin/Castle (Const.) 1,597
 (0.19)
Nader/Gonzalez (IndPty)
 5,327
 		(0.64)
Barr/Root (Lib.) 2,428
 (0.29)
Total........830,158


2008 Overview
In contrast to the narrow margins of 2004 and 2000, the Obama-Biden ticket won New Mexico's five electoral votes with a comfortable plurality of 125,590 votes (15.13 percentage points).  Obama carried 18 counties to 15 for McCain.
General Election Details
 Obama/Allies  |  McCain/Allies  |  Nader

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Voting Eligible Population*: 1,282,767.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 59.0%.
 
Absentee
156,020 (20.12%)
In-person early
236,340 (30.48%)
Regular precincts
 382,941 (49.39%)
Total votes cast: 775,301

Registration: Dem. 550,519 (49.80%)   Rep. 359,563 (32.53%)   Other Party 20,580 (1.86%)   Grn. 9,724 (0.88%)   No Party 164,986 (14.93%)  ...Total 1,105,372.
Official Results 

Kerry/Edwards (Dem.)
370,942
(49.05)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
376,930
(49.84)
Cobb/LaMarche (Grn.) 1,226
(0.16)
Peroutka/Baldwin (Const.) 771
(0.10)
Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.) 2,382
(0.31)
Nader/Camejo (Indep.) 4,053
(0.54)
Total.......756,304

 		 2004 Overview
New Mexico flipped to Bush.  The state, which in 2000 went to Gore with the narrowest vote margin, was again close; in the end Bush won with a plurality of 5,988 votes (0.79 percentage points).  Bush carried 21 counties to 12 for Kerry (results by county).  New Mexico Democratic Party state chair John V. Wertheim stated, "We got crushed in Southeast New Mexico and in the Four Corners area."
General Election Details
Kerry/Allies  |  Bush-Cheney '04

General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Voting Eligible Population*: 1,234,088.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 48.5%.
Absentee
  79,553
 (12.9%)
In-person early
 110,746 (18.0%)
Regular precincts
 425,308
 (69.1%)
Total votes cast: 615,607

Registration: Dem. 508,414 (52.2%)   Rep. 318,282 (32.7%)  Grn. 11,674 (1.2%)   Other 19,050 (2.0%)   No Party 116,113 (11.9%)   ...Total 973,533.
Official Results 


Nader/LaDuke (Grn.)
21,251
 (3.55)
+Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)
286,783
(47.91)
Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
286,417
(47.85)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)
2,058
(0.34)
Phillips/Frazier (Const.)
343
(0.06)
Hagelin/Goldhaber (NLP)
361
(0.06)
Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)
1,392
 (0.23)
Total........598,605


2000 Overview
Problems with the count in Bernalillo County left the outcome in New Mexico uncertain for days after the election, but Gore ultimately won the state's five electoral votes by a razor thin margin of 366 votes (0.06 percentage points).  Bush carried 20 counties to 13 for Gore.
General Election Activity

Although many news accounts attributed the Bernalillo counting problem to a "software glitch," in fact an administrative failure was to blame: the county clerk's office did not run the standard logic and accuracy test on the voting machines before the election.  The problem became apparent on Election Night, and the clerk's office withdrew about 67,000 early vote and absentee ballots from the tally.  On Nov. 9, workers in a warehouse in Albuquerque began the recount, hand-feeding the ballots into the voting machines.  By Nov. 11, Bush had gained a statewide lead of 17 votes, but some emergency ballots remained to be counted and totals were still fluctuating.  The State Canvassing Board finalized Gore as the winner with a plurality of 366 votes on Nov. 29.

1996 and 2000 General Elections

Archive Pages: 2008 | 2004 | 2000 		1992
Clinton (Dem.)........261,617
(45.90)
Bush (Rep.)...........212,824
(37.34)
Perot (Ind.)..............91,895
(16.12)
Others (7)..................3,650 
(0.64)
Total........569,986


1996
Clinton (Dem.)........273,495
(49.18)
Dole (Rep.)............232,751
(41.86)
Perot (Ref.).............32,257
(5.80)
Nader (Grn.)............13,218
(2.38)
Others (3).................4,353
(0.79)
Total........556,074