Secretary of State of New Mexico

Secretary of State of New Mexico
Seal of New Mexico
Incumbent Maggie Toulouse Oliver since December 9, 2016
Term length	Four years
Formation	1912;112 years ago (1912)
First holder	Antonio J. Lucero
Website	Secretary of State of New Mexico

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. ^[1] 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. ^[2]

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. ^[3]

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. ^{[4] [5] [6]} 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. ^{[7] [8]}

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. ^[9] 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) [10]	2015	2015
25		Brad Winter [11]	2015	2016	Rep
26		Maggie Toulouse Oliver	2016	Present	Dem
Source: [12]

References

1. Lee, Morgan (December 9, 2016). "New Mexico swears in newly elected secretary of state". SFGate. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
2. "Albuquerque Journal | Secretary of state resigns, reaches plea deal". www.abqjournal.com. Archived from the original on 2015-10-25.
3. Native American Election Information Program
4. New Mexico UCC Information
5. New Mexico Central Filing System for Agricultural Liens
6. New Mexico Partnership FAQ
7. New Mexico Notary Public information
8. New Mexico apostille information
9. Service of Process upon the New Mexico Secretary of State
10. New Mexico secretary of state resigns, enters guilty plea , Associated Press, Oct 23, 2015
11. ABQ Councilor Brad Winter sworn in as secretary of state, KOB TV, Dec 15, 2015
12. State of New Mexico (July 2012). Kathryn A. Flynn (ed.). 2012 Centennial Blue Book (PDF). Diana J. Duran. Office of the New Mexico Secretary of State. p. 224.

External links

• Official homepage of the New Mexico Secretary of State