Democratic voters who cast their ballots early or by mail for candidates like Pete Buttigieg or Amy Klobuchar who dropped out before Super Tuesday were told they were out of luck in one sense: Once you cast your ballot, you don’t get another chance, even if your preferred candidate ends their run.
This would be the case for primary voters in New Mexico as well, if voters cast their ballots early or by mail for candidates who later dropped out. The primary election day is June 2.
There is still time, however, for candidates in New Mexico to avoid this problem by removing their names from the ballot.
In New Mexico, the Secretary of State contacts each presidential candidate who initially made the ballot and informs them that state law says candidates who wish to withdraw from the ballot must submit paperwork saying this 63 days before the election, in this case by March 31. Unless a candidate does so, they will appear on the ballot in New Mexico.
Earlier this year, the state’s presidential nomination committee certified eleven Democratic candidates for the state’s primary, which will be held on June 2nd.
Michael Bennet, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Deval Patrick, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang each qualified for the ballot at the time. Since then, eight of these candidates have ended or suspended their candidacies.
Four of these candidates—Bennet, Bloomberg, Buttigieg and Steyer—have since filed paperwork to remove their names from the ballot according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Update (3/11): Amy Klobuchar also filed paperwork to remove her name from New Mexico’s ballot.
The commission also certified thirteen Libertarian Party candidates and just one Republican, incumbent president Donald Trump.
