Santa Fe County clerk discusses her bid to be New Mexico’s next secretary of state

Santa Fe County Clerk Katharine Clark recently announced her 2026 campaign to lead New Mexico’s highest election office.

The New Mexico Secretary of State oversees elections, enforces ethics rules, keeps the official records for state government and lies third in succession, behind the lieutenant governor and governor. Current Democratic Secretary of State Maggie Tolouse Oliver cannot run for the seat again, having served two consecutive terms.

So far, Clark faces Doña Ana County Clerk Amanda López Askin in the June 2, 2026 Democratic primary. Currently, no Republicans have announced a run for the seat.

Voters reelected Clark, a Democrat, for her second term in the Santa Fe County Clerk’s office in November 2024. She says will remain in her current position and limit campaigning to weekends and evenings.

In a call with Source NM, Clark cited the Trump Administration’s cuts to federal cybersecurity election protections in her decision to run. She has served on the national committee for election security called Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center since December 2024.

“I am uniquely positioned to make sure we are able to get by and that we have national policy protecting our elections’ cybersecurity,” Clark said. “We really need a secretary of state who’s going to make sure we have those protections in place and have the relationships and strategic mindset and proactiveness to get it done.”

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A generally positive report earlier this month from independent, nonpartisan election observers on New Mexico’s 2024 general election said requests for for same-day registration overwhelmed the system, and cited one Santa Fe County location where same-day voter registration stopped for 90 minutes. 

Clark noted that same-day registration delays were statewide and said the county clerk’s office worked to restore access and offered provisional ballots, which voters use as a failsafe when their registration status can’t be determined.

“We did explain to voters ‘here’s your options,’ and some opted to wait, but others wanted provisional ballots and did those,” she said.

The report also notes one location in Santa Fe County, where Observe New Mexico’s “watcher reported that the presiding judge tried to provide provisional ballots to voters experiencing long lines to same-day-register but concluded that the location had not been provided with any means of producing a provisional ballot.”

Clark told Source NM those specific provisional ballot findings in the report “were in dispute,” and attributed the problems at that site to a new presiding judge who did not know all the options for issuing provisional ballots, which she said was rectified by the office later that day.

“The presiding judge, I think, thought it had to be the envelope way and was not utilizing the ballot-on-demand system — something we did explain to them,” she said.

Clark said she would bring a mindset of “radical transparency” to the office and would continue work to innovate elections, pointing to efforts at Santa Fe County to educate people and candidates on the elections process.

“Not only do we want someone who is pro-voter, but I’m making sure I’m strategic and meeting the moment and ensuring that I’m being proactive to prevent misinformation from the beginning,” she said.

According to campaign finance documents, Clark entered the race with $14,215.50 on hand, which was transferred from her campaign for Santa Fe county clerk.

Clark is listed as “non compliant” in the Secretary of State’s campaign finance system. Clark shared emails with Source NM dating back to May 6, in which secretary of state staff say the issue is “taken care of,” and noting that Clark is compliant in the system.

“They keep charging me $50 per day, even though my report is compliant,” Clark said.