More than 660,000 New Mexicans – nearly half of those registered – voted early • Source New Mexico

More than 660,000 New Mexicans cast votes for local district candidates for the nation's highest office during the state's early voting period, which began in October. 8 and ran through Saturday, the State Department office said Monday.

About 530,000 of those ballots — or 80% — were cast in person. The rest, about 120,000 voters, were mailed, according to the state. According to the most recent voter rolls, the total number of early votes represents about 48% of New Mexico's registered voters.

That doesn't quite beat the record turnout of nearly 800,000 voters in the 2020 election. Another change from the pandemic election was the share of mail-in ballots, which accounted for 35% of votes cast in 2020, but less than a quarter of the vote so far in this election.

In seven counties, more than half of registered voters voted by mail or early, including Bernalillo, the state's most populous, with more than 243,000 early voters. In Grant, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Sandoval, Santa Fe and Valencia counties, more than 50% of registered voters also voted early.

Republican candidates have questioned, without evidence, the validity of mail-in or early voting ballots in other states. It's unclear whether this has had an impact on Republican voters, but compared to 2020, just over 75,000 fewer Republicans voted in early 2024.

Democratic voters accounted for 46% of early voter turnout, compared to 36% for Republicans.

Nationally, the Democratic Party makes up the largest share of the electorate at 42%, while Republicans make up about a third of registered voters. A quarter of voters refuse to declare any party affiliation, and Libertarians make up just over 1%, while all other parties combined are just under 1%.

Tuesday will be the last day for votes on offices such as president, U.S. Senate, Congress and the legislative branch.