ABOUT US

North Annex.The Office of the Secretary of State performs a wide range of duties critical to the work of state government. Duties, such as personnel matters, purchasing, legal counsel, media and public relations, and information systems contribute to the overall operation of the office; others, such as work pertaining to Elections, Ethics, Operations, and Information Systems (outlined below), affect New Mexicans statewide. Supervising and directly participating in this diverse work is the Secretary of State. She is not only the principal administrator of her office, but also the authority behind oaths, registrations, filings and is the Chief Elections Officer for the state.

According to the state's constitution and statutes, here are a few of the Secretary of State's other duties:

  • provides the depository for legislative journals and all bills passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor;
  • records and files referendum petitions signed by qualified electors disapproving laws enacted during the last preceding legislative session;
  • prior to an election, sees to it that proposed amendments to the New Mexico Constitution are published in at least one newspaper in every county in the state for four consecutive weeks, in English and Spanish (when newspapers in both languages are published in such counties);
  • serves as statutory agent for service of process in cases where the designated agent of a domestic corporation or foreign corporation doing business in the state dies, resigns, leaves the state, or cannot be found.

Bureau of Elections duties include:

  • implementing federal, state, county, municipal and school election laws;
  • training county clerks;
  • training county voting machine technicians;
  • filing petitions of candidacy for federal, state and multi-county district offices;
  • Native American Election Information Program;
  • maintaining and reproducing maps of precincts, legislative districts and congressional districts;
  • retaining and reproducing enacted legislation and distributing copies;
  • filing legislative signature rosters;
  • developing and distributing all election supplies and forms;
  • maintaining a statewide computerized voter registration system.

Ethics Administration duties include:

  • filing financial disclosure statements, codes of conduct, campaign reports, lobbyist reports, and political committee reports;
  • registering lobbyists and political committees;
  • ethics training for candidates, political committees, lobbyists, state employees, and other interested parties.
Information Systems Division duties include:
  • maintaining and providing the computer systems and computer support that enable each of the other divisions to fulfill their duties;
  • supports the Agency as a whole in its goals of serving the public and upholding the laws of the State of New Mexico;
  • coordinates with other national, state, and county governmental agencies and
  • administers the statewide voter registration system (VREMS).
Operations Division is responsible for administering the following Acts and processing the documents pertaining to them:
  • Farm Products Secured Interests Act;
  • Registration of Trading Stamp Companies;
  • Notary Public Commissions;
  • Public Utility Filings;
  • State Conservancy Districts;
  • Trademarks and Service Mark Registrations;
  • Facsimile Signatures of Public Officials;
  • Uniform Commercial Code Filings;
  • Official Acts of the Governor such as: Executive Orders, Proclamations, Renditions, Requisitions, Pardons, and Appointments to Boards & Commissions.
  • Service of process of summons and complaints (Domestic and Foreign corporations, non-resident motorists);
  • Limited Partnership Registrations (Foreign and Domestic);
  • General Partnership Registrations;
  • Limited Liability Partnership Registrations (Foreign and Domestic);
  • International wills;
  • Apostilles and Certificates of Appointment.