Your Government

Local Government

Cobre Consolidated School District
Santa Clara
Bayard
Hurley

Voting

2024 General Election: Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Deadlines to register to vote:
Online at nmvote.org: Tuesday, October 8, 2024
By mail: Postmarked by Tuesday, October 8, 2024
In person: Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Same-day registration is available at polling sites for early voting and election day.

Last day to request an absentee ballot is Tuesday, October 22, 2024. Request online at nmvote.org or in person at Grant County Clerk’s office

Early voting begins at Grant County Clerk’s office on Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Early voting beings at Bayard Community Center on Saturday, October 19, 2024

Important dates and locations listed on the Clerk’s website: https://grantcountynm.gov/218/Elections

Grant County Clerk’s Office
1400 Highway 180 East
Silver City, NM 88061
575-574-0042

Register to vote at New Mexico voter information portal You can also update your registration, search for your registration information, view sample ballots, check deadlines, and more at nmvote.org

More registration and voting tools

New Mexico Secretary of State: www.sos.state.nm.us/

More helpful links gathered by the NM State Library: https://libguides.nmstatelibrary.org/votingNM/home

Vote411.org nation-wide tool for voter preparation: vote411.org

View a map of the five county commissioner districts on the County Commission page here: https://grantcountynm.gov/DocumentCenter/View/971/Map-of-all-5-Districts?bidId=

View or download a map of the town council districts here.

To learn what school board position you are eligible to vote for, look up your voter registration at nmvote.org . This is also the easiest way to see what position of the Grant County Soil and Water Conservation District you are eligible to vote for. You can view your sample ballot at the same place.

Federal Voting Assistance Program for military and overseas citizens: https://www.fvap.gov/ Additional tips for overseas voters: https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/

About Candidates

Ballotpedia New Mexico page (browse their NM info or search for candidates in the box at the top): ballotpedia.org/New_Mexico
The Albuquerque Journal sends questionnaires to candidates for state offices every election cycle. This includes candidates for state senator and state representative, and statewide offices like attorney general. They publish the answers on their website in articles whose titles follow the pattern “Q&A: [office] candidate [name]”. You can get unlimited access to the Albuquerque Journal using Newsbank. Go to El Portal at elportalnm.org and click on Newsbank near the bottom of the page.
New Mexico legislature site (view the records of legislators currently in office, and examine bills): http://www.nmlegis.gov/
For information on the judicial retention questions on the 2024 General Election ballot, visit the New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission: https://nmjpec.org/en/
For information on the NM Constitutional Amendments on the 2024 General Election ballot, go to this page from the NM Legislature and click on “2024 July.”
Project Vote Smart: http://votesmart.org/
Congressional comprehensive website made by the Library of Congress: https://www.congress.gov
GovTrack for tracking bills through Congress and viewing representatives’ voting records: https://www.govtrack.us/

Campaign Finance and Lobbying

To learn about campaign financing, identify donors, and learn about lobbying:

Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports and data: www.fec.gov/data
Lobbying disclosure by the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives: http://lobbyingdisclosure.house.gov/
Search for campaign contributions, lobbyists, politicians, PACs, and more: http://www.opensecrets.org/
National Institute on Money in State Politics: http://followthemoney.org/
Data and maps showing spending on politicians’ campaigns: http://maplight.org/
New Mexico campaign funding, lobbying, and committees: https://opennessproject.com/

Policies and regulations

Follow the Grant County Prospectors, whose annual legislative forums highlight regional needs for the state senators and representatives: https://grantcountyprospectors.org/

Congressional Research Service Reports (members of Congress use these to help make legislative decisions): https://crsreports.congress.gov Other sources for these reports include http://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/CRSR and http://guides.lib.uw.edu/law/crs/online

Learn about federal executive branch regulations and comment on proposed regulations: http://www.regulations.gov

Taxes

Printed copies of the 2024 Federal and New Mexico tax forms are available inside the library.

The 2024 AARP free tax assistance program is running from February 5 through April 10, 2024. AARP Tax-Aide volunteers will prepare and file federal and state tax returns. There are no age or income restrictions, and you do not need to be a member of AARP.

Silver City appointments will be available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; call 575-342-8990. The appointments will be at Watt’s Hall, corner of Swan St. and Highway 180.

Bayard appointments will be available on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays; call 575-342-1892. The appointments will be at the Bayard Public Library.

You can stop by the library information desk to pick up a form to prepare for your appointment and a list of items to bring to your appointment.

Information about the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) at Western New Mexico University is at sb.wnmu.edu/tax. VITA services will be offered from February 13, 2024, through April 15, 2024. Stop by Light Hall room 124 Monday through Friday, 8:00am – 12:00pm, first-come, first-served. The service center will be closed for spring break March 9-17.

You can download tax forms here: https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions

New Mexico tax forms can be found here: https://www.tax.newmexico.gov/forms-publications/

Consider filing your federal taxes online at https://www.irs.gov/filing . For income below $72,000, you can use their Free File offer, available here: https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free . Go to https://tap.state.nm.us/tap/_/ for New Mexico online tax filing. The United Way offers free tax filing with expert assistance at myfreetaxes.com.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent organization within the IRS that helps with tax problems: https://taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/

The Wheels for Wishes nonprofit organization has created a calculator to estimate the size of tax deductions you may be able to claim for charitable donations: https://www.wheelsforwishes.org/tax-savings-donation-calculator/