By MERILEE DANNEMANN
Triple Spaced Again
© 2026 by Merilee Dannemann

If all has gone as planned, New Mexico has a new political party.

Official events to establish the Forward Party were scheduled to take place on May 8. On that day—within 30 days of its April organizing event as prescribed by law—the party was due to present its bylaws along with a sufficient number of signatures to the Secretary of State or a county clerk. According to chairman Bob Perls, the required number of signatures was about 3500 and they have more than enough. Party leaders have been working with the Secretary of State’s office for a few months, and Perls was confident matters would go smoothly.

It will be officially a minor party, comparable to the Green and Libertarian parties, which New Mexico recognizes.

Here’s why this is potentially good for New Mexico. Our state politics are dominated by primary elections, in which relatively small numbers of active voters tend to vote for the more radical candidates, so that the two major parties have been moving toward extremes and voters have limited choices in the general election. A third party, where candidates skip the primary and are only on the November ballot, gives voters a chance to vote for a candidate with different priorities.

The Forward Party is limiting its statement of priorities to issues relating to voting rights.

The new party will not be represented in the upcoming June primary election, but its candidates—if any candidates sign up this year—will appear in the November general election. Party organizers are working to recruit candidates for legislative seats where an incumbent is running unopposed and where that incumbent has voted against election reforms such as open primaries. Perls emphasized that they do not want to be a spoiler – that is, intervening in a general election race where a third-party candidate would split the vote by taking votes away from the majority party candidate.

The party is governed by two sets of New Mexico rules: those that apply to minor parties and those that apply specifically to a party in its first year.

In the Forward Party this year, anyone who wants to run for any office will have to be approved by the party’s executive committee. A candidate who wants to declare himself or herself would first have to register as a member of this party and then formally declare candidacy no later than June 23, filing with the secretary of state or a county clerk, with the requisite number of signatures.

Candidates who are officially members of the new party could appear on the ballot in November in their local district. Perls said they have about a dozen candidates ready to sign up. The party also can endorse candidates who are Democratic or Republican who support its positions. Like endorsements from any other organization, these endorsements are unofficial and carry no legal weight. The party’s web site, nmforwardparty.org, shows endorsements for two Democratic state representatives who support its voting-related positions: Cathleen Cates of Corrales, HD44, and Tilli Villalobos, Las Cruces, HD37.

As a voter, you can change your registration to become a member in this party but you will probably want to wait until after the primary due to a statutory deadline that has already passed. If you do change, in future years you can still vote in either the Democratic or the Republican primary election through our new open primary law by doing a same-day registration change and then changing back to your preferred party.

Regardless of which party you are registered in, in the November general election you can vote for whichever individual candidates you choose, regardless of party.

Merilee Dannemann’s columns are posted at www.triplespacedagain.com. Comments are invited through the web site.