As used in the Election Code [Chapter 1 NMSA 1978]:
A. "recheck" pertains to electronic vote tabulating systems and means a verification procedure whereby a printout of the electronic record of votes cast in an election is made from each electronic memory device in the electronic vote tabulating system and the results are compared with the results shown on the official returns; and
B. "recount" pertains to all paper ballots, including absentee ballots, provisional paper ballots, optical scan paper ballots and any other paper ballot and means a verification procedure whereby the voters' selections for an office are retallied and the results compared with the results shown on the official returns.
History: 1953 Comp., § 3-1-5.1, enacted by Laws 1977, ch. 222, § 1; 2005, ch. 270, § 8; 2007, ch. 337, § 3; 2009, ch. 150, § 1.
ANNOTATIONSThe 2009 amendment, effective June 19, 2009, in Subsection B, after "pertains to", deleted "emergency" and added "all"; after "paper ballots", added "including"; deleted "retabulated by feeding the ballots into an electronic vote tabulating system, and the voters' selections on ballots that cannot be read by the system are counted by hand" and added the word "retallied".
The 2007 amendment, effective July 1, 2007, amended Subsection A to define "recheck" as pertaining to electronic vote tabulating systems; and Subsection B to define "recount" to include a verification procedure whereby voters' selections are retabulated by feeding the ballots into an electronic vote tabulating system.
The 2005 amendment, effective July 1, 2005, in Subsection A, changed "voting machines" to "electronic voting systems"; deleted the former provision that "recheck" means a verification procedure where the center counter compartment door of the voting machine is opened; provided that "recheck" means the verification procedure where a printout of the electronic records of votes cast in an election is made from each electronic memory device in the electronic voting system; deleted the former provision that the results of the balloting as shown on the counters of the machine are compared with the official returns; and in Subsection B, defined "recount" to include provisional paper ballots, optical scan paper ballots, voter verifiable and auditable paper ballots, paper ballots printed by electronic voting systems and any other paper ballot; deleted the former provision that "recount" means a retabulation and retallying of individual ballots; and defined "recount" to mean a verification procedure whereby the voters' selection on the paper ballot may be counted by hand and the results compared to the official returns.
Examination of write-in scrolls constitutes a "recheck," and is covered by 1-14-14 NMSA 1978. Weldon v. Sanders, 1982-NMSC-136, 99 N.M. 160, 655 P.2d 1004.