Unaffiliated voters can now join New Mexico primary, Los Alamos clerk certifies machines

Before the June 2 primary, Los Alamos County’s unaffiliated voters no longer have to change party registration to take part in New Mexico’s primary election. The new semi-open system lets voters who are not registered with a qualified party choose the party ballot they want, a shift that could matter immediately in a county where independents make up a significant share of the electorate.

For voters requesting a mailed ballot, the state’s Primary Ballot Selection Portal is the key step before election day. That option is meant for voters who are not registered with a qualified party but want to participate in the upcoming primary by selecting a preferred party ballot. Under the old rules, unaffiliated voters had to switch registration before they could vote in a party primary.

The change reaches far beyond Los Alamos. New Mexico’s 2026 primary dashboard lists 1,403,033 eligible voters statewide, including 573,736 Democrats, 443,817 Republicans and 385,480 other or DTS voters. That means a large pool of registered voters now has a new path into the primary without first taking a party label, and campaigns will have to account for that broader pool of potential participants.

At the same time, Los Alamos County Clerk Michael Redondo certified voting machines Tuesday at the Los Alamos County Municipal Building, with Carmen Lopez of Observe New Mexico Elections watching the process. The certification underscores how much depends on the clerk’s office in the days leading up to the election, especially as voters begin navigating a system that is new for this cycle.

The practical test now is whether the rules are clear enough for voters to use them. If unaffiliated residents understand that they can participate without changing registration, and if mailed-ballot voters use the selection portal in time, the county could see more participation in a primary that has often been decided by a relatively small share of voters. The secretary of state’s elections database, which includes turnout and voter registration records from 2000 through 2025, gives counties a way to measure how much this new system changes participation compared with the old closed-primary rules.