Here is a bit of help preparing for the upcoming local elections
by Merilee Dannemann
New Mexicans, it’s time to focus attention on your own local community. Statewide local elections are coming in a few weeks: November 4, the first Tuesday in November.
Local elections are usually more important than most of us realize, especially now as conflicting national priorities may show up in local governments. Many local elections get little or no news coverage.
Do you know who’s running for what in your district? Do you know which districts you live in? Districts overlap – city council districts, school districts, soil conservation districts and so on. There also may be bond issues on the ballot. In Albuquerque there are 11 municipal bond issues and a school bond.
To find out which districts you are in, go here:
https://voterportal.servis.sos.state.nm.us/WhereToVote.aspx
Fill out the form and click on My Districts. You will see a complete list. The list includes both nonpartisan districts like school board seats and districts such as legislature and county commission that are partisan and have elections in even numbered years.
Once you find your districts, you can then go to:
candidateportal.servis.sos.state.nm.us/CandidateList.aspx?eid=2897&cty=99;
where you will find a complete list of all candidates for all offices running this year. You can scroll to find the names of candidates running for each position but no information about their politics or priorities.
As an informed voter you have to look further. Candidates may have their own web sites. You can search for advocacy groups that may have posted endorsements. A trusted neutral source is the League of Women Voters, whose voters’ guide for this election is now online at VOTE411.org.
Our process for statewide local elections is still new. A few years ago, we combined nonpartisan municipal, school board and special district elections into one after the courts overturned an outdated provision that required school elections to be held separately from all others.
New Mexico has 106 incorporated municipalities, including cities, towns, villages, and one incorporated county (Los Alamos).
In Albuquerque incumbent mayor Tim Keller is running for a third term and facing six challengers. Santa Fe mayor Alan Webber is stepping down and eight candidates are vying to replace him.
Los Alamos has no municipal candidates running this year, but two competitive school board races, university advisory board positions and several candidates for a public improvement board.
Not all communities have moved to the new consolidated process. Last year I wrote about nine municipal governments that held separate elections in March, including Artesia, Clovis, Espanola, Rio Rancho, Santa Rosa, Bernalillo, Cuba, Jemez Springs and Ruidoso.
Some voters don’t live within municipal boundaries. For them, the local government is the county. Since county elections are partisan, those elections will take place in 2026.
Roughly half of school board positions will be up for election this year. New Mexico has 89 school districts, of all sizes. In Albuquerque, which has 177 schools and a fair amount of news coverage, four of the seven school board seats are up.
The state also has numerous rural school districts, which may be geographically widespread but have few schools, very small numbers of students and little or no news coverage. Some districts have as few as two schools and fewer than 100 students – but they have their own school board.
If you are a voter in a rural school district, your burden of responsibility is greater to find out for yourself who is running for your school board and what the candidates’ plans are. If your community doesn’t have a newspaper, I hope it has a great coffee shop.
Merilee Dannemann’s columns are posted at www.triplespacedagain.com. Comments are invited through the web site.
READ ALSO: "Do You Know What Your School Board Candidates Think About Anything? Maybe it’s Time to Find Out" by Karen Wentworth, LWV of Central NM" October, 2025
Community Supporters of the NM Jewish Journal include:
Jewish Community Foundation of New Mexico
Congregation Albert
Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque
The Institute for Tolerance Studies
Jewish Federation of El Paso and Las Cruces
Temple Beth Shalom
Congregation B'nai Israel
Shabbat with Friends: Recapturing Together the Joy of Shabbat
New Mexico Jewish Historical Society
Where the North Ends, A Novel by Hugo Moreno
Policy Statement Acceptance of advertisements does not constitute an endorsement of the advertisers’ products, services or opinions. Likewise, while an advertiser or community supporter's ad may indicate their support for the publication's mission, that does not constitute their endorsement of the publication's content.
Copyright © 2025 New Mexico Jewish Journal LLC. All rights reserved.
