New Vistas

10/14/2026

Attention Parents and High School Students:

A presentation on Paying for College and Finding Scholarships will be hosted October 15th and October 20th at the LaFarge Library in Santa Fe from 6-7:30 pm. The event is free to attend and pizza will be provide!

To register, check out tinyurl.com/Funding4College or call 505-955-6796 to speak directly with library staff.

10/08/2026

As the Americans with Disabilities Act emphasizes, people with disabilities have the right “to fully participate in all aspects of society”, and that includes voting. Federal law requires that voting be accessible, including for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Like all voters, people with disabilities have the right to privacy and independence in casting their ballot. As a voter with a disability, you also have the right to:
Equal access to websites for voter-related activities
Equal access to polling sites, including accessible parking and an unobstructed path to the site
Use of an accessible machine – positioned to give you privacy – to cast your vote
Access to assistance if you need it – If you need help with reading or marking your ballot, you can be assisted by a friend, family member, caregiver, guardian or poll worker (a representative of your employer or your union can’t do this).

You also have the right to report any difficulties you experience. Poll workers, county clerks and the Secretary of State’s office can’t fix problems if they don’t know they exist, so you should report any issues you encounter.

To report a concern, ask for help, or file a complaint, here’s what you can do:
Tell a poll worker at the polling site and see if the problem can be corrected right away
Ask for the precinct judge and report the problem to that person
Call Disability Rights New Mexico at 505-256-3100 for help; DRNM can often contact the right people and get the problem fixed within minutes
Call your local County Clerk’s office (you can find contact information at https://www.sos.nm.gov/voting-and-elections/county-clerk-information/.
Call the Secretary of State’s office at 505-827-3600 and select Option 2 (or call toll-free at 800-477-3632) or email them at [email protected]

For more information specifically for voters with disabilities, check out the helpful FAQs on the Secretary of State’s website at https://www.sos.nm.gov/voting-and-elections/voters-with-disabilities-faqs/.

And don’t forget that you have the rights that ALL voters have, including (among others) the right to be treated with respect, get instructions on how to cast your ballot, and vote as long as you’re already in line when the polls close at 7:00 PM on Election Day. You can find the full Voter Bill of Rights at https://www.sos.nm.gov/voting-and-elections/voter-information-portal-nmvote-org/voter-bill-of-rights/.

Be an informed voter

Before you vote, you’ll want to educate yourself on the candidates and other measures on the ballot so you can cast informed votes.

This year’s ballot includes the following:

Congress: One U.S. Senate seat and all three seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are on the ballot this year
New Mexico statewide races, including governor, attorney general, and others

State legislature: All seats in the New Mexico House of Representatives (New Mexico state senators serve four-year terms so those seats aren’t up for election until 2028)

Judges (initial elections and retention votes)

Local government positions like county commissioner, sheriff, assessor, and others

Constitutional amendments: four proposed amendments to the state constitution are on this year’s ballot

Bonds

Possible additional local matters that are specific to where you live

TIP: You don’t have to vote on every item on the ballot. If you prefer not to vote in a particular race or on a specific question, you can leave that one blank.

There are steps you can take to become an informed voter:

Get a “sample ballot”. Reviewing the ballot ahead of time can help you get ready to vote. To get a copy of the ballot you’ll be using when you go to vote, go to the Secretary of State’s Voter Information Portal at NMVote.org.

Scroll down and click on “Find My Registration and Election Information”

Enter your name, birth date and county, verify that you’re not a robot, and click on “Search”

Click on “My Sample Ballot” in the list on the left side, then on “View Sample Ballot” on the next screen

Educate yourself on what you’ll be voting on. You’ll want to learn about the candidates and the issues before you vote so you can make informed choices. Some sources of information that may be helpful:
Information from the League of Women Voters is available at www.vote411.org. (LWV is a nonpartisan organization that presents information on candidates and issues but does not support or oppose particular candidates or political parties).
You can go to the candidates’ own websites to learn about their positions on issues. (The LWV website includes links to those websites.)

The Legislature has a guide that explains the constitutional amendments that will be on the ballot, including arguments both supporting and opposing each one. It’s available here: https://nmlegis.gov/Publications/New_Mexico_State_Government/Constitutional_Amendment/Constitutional_Amendments_2024.pdf.
Judges in New Mexico run in one contested election. After that, voters are asked simply whether the judge should be kept in that position or not; a judge must get 57% of the vote to be retained. The New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission evaluates sitting judges and makes recommendations on whether they should be retained. You can see their recommendations on the JPEC website at https://nmjpec.org.

TIP: When looking for information, go to trusted news sources – don’t just rely on what you hear through social media or from campaign ads, where the information is often misleading or outright wrong.

People with disabilities vote at much lower rates than other groups, missing out on a key way to influence policy that affects all of us. Let’s make 2026 the year that the disability community changes that and makes its voice heard by voting!

10/01/2026

We covered registering to vote in an earlier message -- now, let’s turn our attention to voting! There are several ways you can do that either in person on Election Day (Tuesday, November 3, 2026) or before Election Day, or by absentee ballot.

Absentee ballots (also called “mail-in” ballots)
This means completing your ballot at home and returning it by mail or hand-delivery, instead of voting in person at a polling place. In New Mexico, any registered voter can choose to vote by absentee ballot — you don’t have to prove you can’t vote in person to get an absentee ballot. The only information you need to give to request an absentee ballot is your name and address as registered, the year you were born, and your signature.

Absentee ballots are safe and secure, so don’t hesitate to vote that way if you prefer not to go to a polling place to vote in person.

There are several ways to request an absentee ballot:
Fill out and submit your application online through the Secretary of State’s online portal at https://portal1.sos.nm.gov/OVR/(S(4hhc54ly4dfan4l2i3fau2zz))/WebPages/AbsenteeApplication.aspx.

Download and print a copy of the application from the Secretary of State’s website and mail or hand-deliver it to the County Clerk’s office. Location and contact information for all the Clerks is on the Secretary of State’s website at https://www.sos.nm.gov/voting-and-elections/voter-information-portal-nmvote-org/county-clerk-information/.

Get an application from your County Clerk’s office. You may be able to download the application from the Clerk’s website and print it out, or you can contact them by phone or email to ask them to send one to you, or you can go to the Clerk’s office to pick one up. Complete and sign the form and mail or hand-deliver it to the Clerk’s office.

Your application for an absentee ballot must be received through the Secretary of State’s website or in the County Clerk’s office by 5:00 p.m. on October 20. You can check the status of your application through the Voter Information Portal on the Secretary of State’s website at https://voterportal.servis.sos.state.nm.us/WhereToVote.aspx.

Submitting your completed absentee ballot:
The ballot will come to you in the mail. Follow the instructions exactly as to how to complete the ballot and prepare the envelopes it will be returned in.

You can return the completed ballot by mail (postage is prepaid so there’s no cost to you), by delivering it to the County Clerk’s office, by placing it in a voting dropbox, or by delivering it to an early voting or Election Day polling location. The ballot must be received by the Clerk’s office or delivered to a polling place by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, November 5. Ballots received after Election Day won’t be counted, even if they’re postmarked on or before that day. We recommend returning your ballot well before the deadline to make sure it arrives in time, especially if you’re mailing it in.

You can return your completed ballot yourself, or your caregiver or a member of your family or household can mail or deliver the ballot to the County Clerk for you. That includes a spouse or domestic partner, children, parents, grandchildren, grandparents, siblings, or a person with whom you have a continuing personal relationship. No one else is allowed to do this for you.

If you get an absentee ballot but change your mind and want to vote in person, you can do that. Go to the polling place for early voting or on Election Day, where you’ll sign a sworn statement that you haven’t used and won’t use the absentee ballot, and you’ll get a new ballot to vote at the polling site. (If you’ve already sent in your absentee ballot, you can’t use this procedure to change your vote because you’ve changed your mind.)

Voters who are blind or visually impaired can get an accessible ballot they can mark using their own non-visual or low-vision technology to mark their ballot. To get an accessible ballot, select “visually impaired” as the ballot type when you choose the “Ballot Delivery Method” as part of the online application. An email address is required. The ballot will be sent to that address.

Voting in person
If you prefer to vote at a polling place instead of by absentee ballot, you can do that early or on Election Day.

Early voting in New Mexico will begin on Tuesday, October 6 (four weeks before Election Day) at the office of the County Clerk in each county. Then, starting on Saturday, October 17 (third Saturday before Election Day) and continuing through Saturday, October 31 (last Saturday before Election Day), there will be additional voting centers in most counties where you can vote early. Contact your County Clerk for information on locations and hours for early voting.

On Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2026, polling places will be open from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. You can find out where to go to vote by contacting the County Clerk’s office or through the portal on the Secretary of State’s website at NMVote.org (https://www.sos.nm.gov/voting-and-elections/voter-information-portal-nmvote-org/).

Whether you vote early or on Election Day, here’s some information on voting in person:
New Mexico uses paper ballots, which the voter marks and then feeds into a scanning machine to be read, so there’s a paper trail as well as an electronic record of votes.
You don’t have to show ID when you go to vote in state elections in New Mexico, with one exception: If you registered by mail and didn’t send in an ID document at that time, and this is the first time you’re voting since you registered, you’ll have to show ID when you go to the polling place. This can be either 1) a valid photo ID, or 2) a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, student ID, tribal ID, or other government document that shows your name and address.

If you already submitted the identification document with your registration, or if you’ve voted before in New Mexico, all you have to do is give your name, birth year, and the address where you’re registered. You can do this orally; nothing written is required. (Some New Mexico cities have local laws that require voters to show ID to vote in city elections. Those requirements DON’T apply to statewide elections like the one on November 3.)

If you’re a first-time voter who hasn’t already submitted an ID document, and you don’t have ID with you when you go to vote, you’ll be given a “provisional ballot”. You’ll mark your ballot as usual, but it will be put into a sealed envelope instead of being run through the scanner. If you bring ID to the polling place before the polls close or to the county clerk’s office within two days after Election Day, your vote will be counted.

You can also vote by a provisional ballot if you go to vote and your name isn’t on the list of registered voters. If it’s later determined that your name was left off the list by mistake, your vote will be counted.

If you didn’t get registered to vote before the October 6 deadline, you can register when you go to vote, both during the early voting period and on Election Day. Not all early voting sites will be able to do this, so check with the County Clerk to make sure same-day registration is available at the polling place you plan to go to.

And remember that you can find lots of information on the Secretary of State’s website at www.NMVote.org or by going to www.sos.nm.gov and clicking on “Voting and Elections” at the top of the homepage. There are FAQs on a wide variety of subjects about voting. Or check out their new, user-friendly “Good Questions” webpage at https://www.sos.nm.gov/goodquestions/.

Voting & Elections Information on Voting and Elections in the State of New Mexico. Go Candidates & Campaigns Information on how to become a candidate and about complying with campaign finance disclosure and reporting requirements. Go Legislation, Lobbying & Legal Resources Learn about Lobbying in ou...

09/29/2026

Espanola is hosting the First Common Ground Festival on October 10th from 10-3 at the Espanola City Plaza. The event is open to everyone, and will feature music, arts and crafts and information from community service agencies. Please consider stopping by!

09/28/2026

Election Day 2026 is Tuesday, November 3, so it’s time to get started on our Election Year “Let’s Vote!” series.

As a Center for Independent Living, we encourage members of the disability community to make their voices heard in policy-making, and voting to select the people who make those policies is a key way to do that. Having a disability, regardless of the type of disability, doesn’t prevent you from registering and voting – you’re barred from voting only if a court order clearly takes that right away from you.

Unfortunately, people with disabilities are much less likely to vote than other groups are. That means that the disability community is missing an important way to influence the policies that affect all of our lives. This Disability Coalition wants to turn that around, which means that if you’re not registered to vote, you should be!

If you’re not sure whether you’re registered to vote in New Mexico, you can find out by going to the My Registration Information link on the Secretary of State’s website: https://voterportal.servis.sos.state.nm.us/WhereToVote.aspx.

Once you’re registered, you can vote in national, state, county and city elections in New Mexico. In order to register to vote, you need to be 1) a citizen of the United States, 2) a resident of New Mexico, and 3) at least 18 years old on Election Day. There’s no minimum residency requirement, so you can register even if you just moved here. And if you’re 17 now but will turn 18 by Election Day, you can go ahead and register now. If you’ve been convicted of a felony, you can’t vote while you’re incarcerated, but you can register and vote once you’re released.

Up to 28 days before the election (October 6 this year), there are lots of ways to register:

You can register in person at the County Clerk’s office in the county where you live.

If you have a New Mexico driver’s license, you can register online through the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Online Voter Registration System: https://portal1.sos.nm.gov/OVR/(S(jw1xlw50p3zncymt13rhkaaf))/WebPages/InstructionsStep1.aspx

You can register by mail.
To get the registration form, go to the link above and download the form; call the Secretary of State’s office at 1-800-477-3632 and ask them to mail it to you; or contact the County Clerk in your county to request one.
Contact information for all the County Clerks is available on the Secretary of State’s website at https://www.sos.nm.gov/voting-and-elections/voter-information-portal-nmvote-org/County-Clerk-Information/.
Once you complete the paper form, mail or deliver it to the Clerk’s office.

You can register through an authorized individual or organization that assists with registrations and has qualified as a Third-Party Registration Agent through the Secretary of State’s office. (If you’re not sure whether the person assisting you is a qualified Registration Agent, ask to see their notarized Voter Registration Agent Identification Form.)

It is recommended that you register by October 6 to make sure you can vote without difficulty and that you have the option to use a mail-in ballot rather than going to vote in person. But if you miss the October 6 deadline, you can still register! New Mexico now has same-day voter registration (SDR), which allows you to register on the day you vote, during early voting and on Election Day.

Same-day registration is available at the County Clerk’s office in your county and may also be available at other polling locations during early voting if the Clerk has designated an employee there to take them. If you plan to register when you go to vote early, you should call your County Clerk’s office and/or check their website for information on where same-day registrations will be accepted. On Election Day, SDR will be available at all polling locations.

When you register in person, you’ll be asked to provide 1) a photo ID, or 2) a document showing your name and address, which can be a utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, student ID, tribal ID, or other government document. If you register by mail, you can send a copy along with the registration form. If you don’t submit one of these documents at the time you register, you’ll be asked to show it the first time you vote.

The documents required for same-day registration are a little different. You have to show a physical ID issued by the federal or a state government, an Indian tribe, nation or pueblo, or an educational institution. That ID must have your name, photo and address. If the address isn’t shown on the ID, you also have to show a document such as a utility bill, bank statement, or another document issued by a government or educational institution that includes your name and address. The ID or other document doesn’t have to have an expiration date, and it’s acceptable even if it has expired.

Once you’ve registered, your county clerk will mail you a confirmation that includes a voter ID card. To check the status of your registration at any time (whether it’s a new one or you registered a while ago), use the My Registration Information link: https://voterportal.servis.sos.state.nm.us/WhereToVote.aspx.

You can find lots of information on voter registration and voting in general at the Secretary of State’s website: www.sos.nm.gov/voting-and-elections.

So make sure you’re registered to vote, and help make the voice of the disability community heard on Election Day!

09/16/2026

National Concussion Awareness Day is September 18th

A concussion is a brain injury and it deserves to be taken seriously. Have questions - or want to help a friend or family member impacted by concussions? Check out www.concussionawarenessnew.org

08/31/2026

The Time To Show Up Is Now

The next Yazzie/Martinez hearing is just days away, and Transform Education NM is asking our communities to show up in person.

📅 Friday, September 4th
⏰ 8:30 a.m.
📍 First Judicial District Court — Ceremonial Courtroom
225 Montezuma Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico

For years, the Yazzie/Martinez case has made clear what New Mexico's students, families, educators, and Tribal communities already know: our children deserve an education system that meets their needs and fulfills the promises made to them under the New Mexico Constitution.

This hearing is another opportunity to make sure our communities are seen, heard, and impossible to ignore.

08/17/2026

Fire officials will be holding a community meeting in Santa Fe tomorrow, August 18th at 6pm at the Convention Center to provide updates on the Frijoles Fire. Please feel free to attend this free event if you have questions.

08/17/2026

Kitchen Angels in Santa Fe is offering emergency meal services for those affected by the Frijoles Canyon Fire. Please help share this important information and reach out to their office at 505-471-7780 ext. 212 if you have questions or need to access this important resource.

08/14/2026

There will be a community meeting in Espanola this evening at 6pm at McCracken Gym at McCurdy Ministries to provide updates on the Frijoles Fire and answer questions from community members. Please consider attending if you'd like information on this ongoing situation.