The secretary of state of New Mexico is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of New Mexico. Twenty-six individuals have held the office of secretary of state since statehood. Since 1923, every elected New Mexican secretary of state has been a woman. The incumbent is Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat. Toulouse Oliver's election was forced early due to the resignation of former secretary of state Dianna Duran in October 2015, after criminal charges were filed by the Attorney General's Office alleging Duran converted campaign funds to personal gambling debt.
Powers and duties The secretary of state is in effect the guarantor of the continuity and stability of good government in New Mexico, with his or her role extending to the enforcement of elections and government ethics laws, the certification, filing, and preservation of legislation, gubernatorial acts, and other instruments vital to the efficient operation of state government, and the registration and regulatory oversight of commerce and industry.
Elections administration The Bureau of Elections of the Office of the Secretary of State administers elections and enforces local, state, and federal election laws. The bureau's duties include training county clerks and voting machine technicians, maintaining the state's voter registration database, filing petitions of candidacy for candidates for public office, and administering the Native American Election Information Program, which is a special program to help improve voter registration and voter turnout among the Native American populations within the state.Native American Election Information Program
Campaign finance and lobbying regulation The Ethics Division of the Office of the Secretary of State regulates campaign finance and lobbying within the state, and provides campaign finance and lobbying compliance training to various parties involved in government.
Commerce and industry The Business Services Division of the Office of the Secretary of State provides various administrative and business-related services to the people of New Mexico. This includes the formation of corporations, limited liability companies, general partnerships, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships, the registration of trademarks, and the indexing of security interests under the Uniform Commercial Code and the Food Security Act of 1985.New Mexico UCC InformationNew Mexico Central Filing System for Agricultural LiensNew Mexico Partnership FAQ The division is also responsible for licensing notaries public, issuing apostilles, and maintaining the office's computer systems, including the voter registration system managed by the Bureau of Elections.New Mexico Notary Public informationNew Mexico apostille information
Miscellaneous functions The secretary of state is responsible for filing slip laws, preserving legislative journals, and publishing state agency administrative rules. The secretary also maintains records of referendum petitions, serves as registered agent for service of process on behalf of foreign corporations, and ensures that proposed amendments to the New Mexico Constitution are published in at least one newspaper in every county in the state for four consecutive weeks in both English and Spanish.Service of Process upon the New Mexico Secretary of State Moreover, the secretary of state is second in the line of succession after the governor and the lieutenant governor. The secretary of state therefore steps in as acting governor whenever the governor and lieutenant governor are both absent from the state.
List of New Mexico secretaries of state
# Image Name Took office Left office Party 1 Antonio J. Lucero 1912 1918 Dem 2 Manuel Martínez 1919 1922 Rep 3 Soledad Chacón 1923 1926 Dem 4 Jennie Fortune 1927 1928 Dem 5 E. A. Perrault 1929 1930 Rep 6 Marguerite P. Baca 1931 1934 Dem 7 Elizabeth F. Gonzales 1935 1938 Dem 8 Jessie M. Gonzales 1939 1942 Dem 9 Cecilia T. Cleveland 1943 1946 Dem 10 Alicia Valdez Romero 1947 1950 Dem 11 Beatrice Roach Gottlieb 1951 1954 Dem 12 Natalie Smith Buck 1955 1958 Dem 13 Betty Fiorina 1959 1962 Dem 14 Alberta Miller 1963 1966 Dem 15 Ernestine Durán Evans 1967 1970 Dem 16 Betty Fiorina 1971 1974 Dem 17 Ernestine Durán Evans 1975 1978 Dem 18 Shirley Hooper 1979 1982 Dem 19 Clara Padilla Jones 1983 1986 Dem 20 Rebecca Vigil-Giron 1987 1990 Dem 21 Stephanie Gonzales 1991 1998 Dem 22 Rebecca Vigil-Giron 1999 2006 Dem 23 Mary Herrera 2007 2010 Dem 24 Dianna Duran 2011 2015 Rep — Mary Quintana (Acting)New Mexico secretary of state resigns, enters guilty plea, Associated Press, Oct 23, 2015 2015 2015 25 Brad WinterABQ Councilor Brad Winter sworn in as secretary of state, KOB TV, Dec 15, 2015 2015 2016 Rep 26 Maggie Toulouse Oliver 2016 Present Dem
References
External links Official homepage of the New Mexico Secretary of State