New Mexico Continues to Rank Among Top 10 States for Election Administration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
17 APRIL 2026 

Contact:
Lindsey Bachman
New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office
505-479-2626, lindsey.bachman@sos.nm.gov

New Mexico Continues to Rank Among Top 10 States for Election Administration

SANTA FE – New Mexico’s elections have been ranked seventh in the nation by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) 2024 Elections Performance Index (EPI), continuing the trend of the state’s high performance in election administration. New Mexico has moved up 18 spots in the rankings since the 2020 Elections Performance Index when the state was ranked twenty-fifth for presidential election administration. The rankings released yesterday, based on the 2024 presidential election, use a variety of performance indicators measuring aspects of election administration such as voter registration rates, post-election audits, security protocols, ballot rejection rates, wait times, and more.

“Yesterday’s rankings confirm what I know from working with election administrators in our state every day. New Mexico helps lead the country by administering elections that are secure, accurate and accessible,” said New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver. “Modernization efforts in recent years – like the implementation of online voter registration, mailed ballot tracking and the state’s elections security program – have really propelled us forward in ways that are vital to safeguarding the ability for every eligible voter to cast a ballot in our elections. The long-term health of our democratic process really depends on our continued commitment to investing in, adapting, and building upon those efforts. MIT’s research confirms that it pays off when we do.”

Some additional important 2024 New Mexico EPI facts:

· New Mexico scored better than the national average in most of the index’s categories, including those related to the administration of absentee voting by mail as well as overall electoral infrastructure and general administration.

· New Mexico increased its overall average index score, from 82% in 2020 to 87% in 2024. And this year’s scoring was incredibly close, the states ranked second through sixth also received a rounded 87% EPI performance measurement.

· In addition to this year’s high ranking, New Mexico also ranked first in the nation for its midterm election administration in 2022.

“The EPI was crafted primarily by and for election practitioners to drive a conversation about best practices in how to keep elections safe, secure, and accurate in the United States using a clearly defined set of 19 indicators measuring both outcomes and policy decisions,” MIT’s Election Data and Science Lab said in on its website Thursday. “By and large, states ranked high in 2024, showing that election administration continues to improve in the United States even amidst a changing electoral environment.”

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