[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] 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.

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] 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.

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.