A. Electioneering too close to the polling place consists of any form of campaigning within:
(1) one hundred feet of the building in which the polling place is located on election day when voting at a school, church or private residence; and
(2) one hundred feet of the door through which voters may enter to vote at the office of the county clerk, an alternate voting location, a mobile voting site or any location used as a polling place on election day that is not a school, church or private residence.
B. Electioneering includes the display or distribution of signs or campaign literature, campaign buttons, t-shirts, hats, pins or other such items and includes the verbal or electronic solicitation of votes for a candidate or question.
C. Whoever commits electioneering too close to the polling place is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.
History: 1953 Comp., § 3-20-14, enacted by Laws 1969, ch. 240, § 440; 2011, ch. 137, § 104.
ANNOTATIONSCross references. — For campaign practices, see 1-19-1 NMSA 1978 et seq.
The 2011 amendment, effective July 1, 2011, prohibited electioneering within one hundred feet of a school, church or residential building and within one hundred feet of the entry door of a voting place that is not a school, church or residence and listed acts that constitute electioneering.
Provisions also apply to Absent Voter Act if the absentee voting is for such elections. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 70-90.
Applicable to rubber stamps made available by write-in candidate. — Under former 3-3-20(20), 1953 Comp., a write-in candidate could have rubber stamps bearing his name made available at each polling place at his expense only if such rubber stamps were made available at least 50 feet from the polling place. 1964 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 64-131 (opinion rendered under former law).
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 26 Am. Jur. 2d Elections § 467.
29 C.J.S. Elections § 330.