Campaign finance requirements in New Mexico

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New Mexico campaign finance requirements govern the following:

• how much money candidates may receive from individuals and organizations,
• how much and how often they must report those contributions, and
• how much individuals, organizations and political parties may contribute to campaigns.

In addition to direct campaign contributions, campaign finance laws also apply to third-party organizations and nonprofit organizations that seek to influence elections through independent expenditures or issue advocacy.

As of May 2015, only single candidate committees, PACs, political parties, corporations, and unions were permitted the maximum contribution to statewide candidates, state legislative candidates, PACs, party committees, and ballot measures. Moreover, super PACs were not permitted to donate to statewide candidates, state legislative candidates, PACs, party committees, and ballot measures.

Background

Seal of the United States Federal Election Commission

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency that administers and enforces federal campaign election laws. The FEC is responsible for disclosing campaign finance information, enforcing limits and prohibitions on contributions, and overseeing public funding of presidential elections. According to the FEC, an individual becomes a federal candidate and must begin reporting campaign finances once he or she has either raised or spent $5,000 in his or her campaign. Within fifteen days of this benchmark, the candidate must register with the FEC and designate an official campaign committee, which is responsible for the funds and expenditures of the campaign. This committee must have an official treasurer and cannot support any candidate but the one who registered it. Detailed financial reports are then made to the FEC every financial quarter after the individual is registered. Reports are also made before primaries and before the general election.

The Supreme Court of the United States has issued a number of rulings pertaining to federal election campaign finance regulations. In the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, the court held that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited. The court's decision also overturned the ban on for-profit and not-for-profit corporations and unions broadcasting electioneering communications in the 30 days before a presidential primary and in the 60 days before a general election. In the SpeechNOW.org v. Federal Election Commission decision, the first application of the Citizens United decision, the court held that contribution limits on what individuals could give to independent expenditure-only groups, and the amount these organizations could receive, were unconstitutional. Contribution limits on donations directly to candidates, however, remained unchanged. In 2014's McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission decision, the court overturned biennial aggregate campaign contribution limits, and held that individuals may contribute to as many federal candidates as they want, but may only contribute up to the federal limit in each case.

While the FEC governs federal election campaigns and contribution limits, individual states enforce their own regulation and reporting requirements. Regulations vary by state, as do limits on campaign contributions and third-party activities to influence elections.

Contribution limits

The table below details contribution limits as they applied to various types of individuals and groups in New Mexico as of November 4, 2020. The uppermost row of the table indicates the contributor, while the leftmost column indicates the recipient.

New Mexico contribution limits as of November 4, 2020
	Individuals	PACs
To a non-statewide candidate	$5,200	$5,200
To a statewide candidate	$5,200	$5,200
To a PAC	$5,200	$5,200
Sources: New Mexico Secretary of State, "2022 Candidate Campaign Finance Reporting Guide," accessed July 30, 2021.

Candidate requirements

Seal of New Mexico

See statutes: Article 19 of the New Mexico Election Code

A candidate for state-level office must register with the New Mexico Secretary of State upon: 1.) raising or spending $1,000 or more for a non-statewide race; 2.) raising or spending $2,500 or more for a statewide race; 3.) or at the time of filing a declaration of candidacy, whichever occurs earlier.

Statutory requirements

A treasurer must be appointed and constantly maintained. A candidate may also serve as the candidate's own treasurer. All disbursements of money and contributions must be authorized by the candidate or treasurer. A separate bank account must be established and all contributions of money contributions and all expenditures of money must be deposited in and disbursed from this account. The treasurer, upon disbursing or receiving money or other things of value, must immediately enter and thereafter keep a proper record of such transactions.

No anonymous contributions may be accepted in excess of $100. The aggregate amount of anonymous contributions received by a candidate during a primary or general election cannot exceed $2,000 for statewide races or $500 for all other races.

It is unlawful during the prohibited period for a state legislator or a candidate for state legislator, or any agent on behalf of either, to knowingly solicit a contribution for a political purpose. "Prohibited period" means the period beginning January 1 prior to any regular session of the state legislature and ending on adjournment of the regular or special session.

Reporting requirements

Campaign finance reports are filed electronically through the New Mexico Campaign Finance Information System. Each required report of expenditures and contributions must include the following:

1. the name and address of the person or entity to whom an expenditure was made or from whom a contribution was received, except as provided for anonymous contributions
2. the occupation or type of business of any person or entity making contributions of $250 or more in the aggregate per election
3. the amount of the expenditure or contribution or value thereof
4. the purpose of the expenditure
5. the date the expenditure was made or the contribution was received

Each report must contain an opening and closing cash balance for the bank account maintained by the reporting individual during the reporting period and the name of the financial institution. Each report must specify the amount of each unpaid debt and the identity of the person to whom the debt is owed.

Public inspection of reports

A report of expenditures and contributions filed by a candidate's committee is a public record open to public inspection during regular office hours in the office in which the document was filed.

Campaign finance legislation

The following is a list of recent campaign finance bills that have been introduced in or passed by the New Mexico state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.

Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.

Election and campaign ballot measures

See also: Elections and campaigns on the ballot and List of New Mexico ballot measures

Ballotpedia has tracked 18 statewide ballot measures relating to elections and campaigns.

1. New Mexico Amendment 4 (1996)
2. New Mexico Amendment 3 (1996)
3. New Mexico Amendment 2 (1996)
4. New Mexico Rules for County Officials in their Second Terms, Amendment 3 (1998)
5. New Mexico Modern Election Language Amendment, Amendment 3 (2010)
6. New Mexico School Elections Act, Amendment 4 (2008)
7. New Mexico Runoff Elections, Measure 3 (2004)
8. New Mexico School Board, Amendment 1 (2008)
9. New Mexico Dates for School Elections, Amendment 1 (2014)
10. New Mexico Candidacy Declarations in Judicial Retention Elections, Amendment 3 (2014)
11. New Mexico Proposed Amendment 11, Voter Qualification (1994)
12. New Mexico Proposed Amendment 1, Absentee Voting (1940)
13. New Mexico Proposed Amendment, Absentee Voting (1958)
14. New Mexico Proposed Amendment, Joint Election of Governor and Lieutenant Governor (1962)
15. New Mexico Proposed Amendment, Absentee Voting, Removal of Voting Restrictions for Women and Indians (1964)
16. New Mexico Proposed Amendment, Municipal Bonds, Special Elections, Nonresident Voting (1964)
17. New Mexico Nominating Conventions for Candidates Referendum (1950)
18. New Mexico Nominating Conventions for Candidates Referendum (1964)

Election-related agencies

See also: Campaign finance agencies in New Mexico and State election agencies

Candidates running for office may require some form of interaction with the following agencies:

• New Mexico Secretary of State-Elections Division
  

Why: This agency provides and processes filing paperwork for statewide executive offices and congressional seats.

325 Don Gaspar, Suite 300

Santa Fe, NM 87501-4401

Phone: 505.827.3600

Toll-free: 1.800.477.3632

Fax: 505.827.3634

Website: http://www.sos.state.nm.us/sos-elections.html (dead link)

Email: [email protected]

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms New Mexico campaign finance. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Campaign finance requirements in New Mexico - Google News

See also

• Campaign finance regulation
• Ballot access requirements for political candidates in New Mexico
• New Mexico