A. Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 1-1-11 and 1-1-12 NMSA 1978, not later than the first Monday in November of each odd-numbered year, a board of county commissioners may designate a precinct as a mail ballot election precinct if, upon a written request of the county clerk, it finds that the precinct has fewer than one hundred voters and the nearest polling place for an adjoining precinct is more than twenty miles driving distance from the boundary for the precinct in question.
B. If a precinct is designated a mail ballot election precinct, in addition to the notice required pursuant to Section 1-3-8 NMSA 1978, the county clerk shall notify by mail with delivery confirmation all voters in that precinct at least forty-two days before an election that each voter will be sent an absentee ballot twenty-eight days before the election and that there will be no polling place for the precinct on election day. The county clerk shall include in the notice a card informing the voter that if the voter does not want to receive an absentee ballot for that election, the voter should return the card before the date the county clerk is scheduled to mail out absentee ballots. The notice shall also inform the voter that a voting system equipped for persons with disabilities will be available at all early voting sites before election day and in the office of the county clerk on election day in case the voter prefers to vote in person and not by mail. In addition, the notice shall inform the voter if the county is consolidating precincts on election day and, if so, the ability of the voter to cast a ballot at any consolidated precinct on election day if the voter chooses not to receive an absentee ballot, or to cast a provisional ballot at any consolidated precinct if the voter does not receive an absentee ballot, which will be counted upon confirmation that the voter has not returned the absentee ballot.
C. The county clerk shall mail each voter in the mail ballot election precinct an absentee ballot on the twenty-eighth day before an election, unless the voter has requested otherwise, along with a notice that there will be no polling place in that precinct on election day.
D. The county clerk shall keep a sufficient number of ballots from a mail ballot election precinct such that a voter from that precinct may vote on a replacement or provisional paper ballot pursuant to Section 1-6-16 NMSA 1978 or on an emergency paper ballot pursuant to Section 1-6-16.2 NMSA 1978.
History: Laws 2009, ch. 251, § 1; 2009, ch. 274, § 1; 2011, ch. 137, § 47; 2015, ch. 145, § 49; 2017, ch. 101, § 5.
ANNOTATIONSThe 2017 amendment, effective June 16, 2017, provided for replacement or provisional paper ballots for absentee voters who did not receive an absentee ballot by mail or who were unable to vote in person after the close of the period for requesting an absentee ballot by mail; in Subsection D, after "voter from that precinct", deleted "does not receive an absentee ballot before election day, the voter", after "may vote on", deleted "an absentee" and added "a replacement or provisional paper", after "ballot", deleted "in the office of the county clerk on election day in lieu of voting on the missing ballot" and added "pursuant to Section 1-6-16 NMSA 1978 or on an emergency paper ballot pursuant to Section 1-6-16.2 NMSA 1978".
The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, amended the notice requirements when a precinct is designated a mail ballot election precinct; in Subsection B, after "the county clerk shall notify by", deleted "registered", after "mail", added "with delivery confirmation", after "receive an absentee ballot", added "for that election", after "absentee ballots. The", deleted "card" and added "notice", and after "prefers to vote in person and not by mail.", added the remainder of the subsection.
The 2011 amendment, effective July 1, 2011, required the designation of a precinct as a mail ballot election precinct not later than the first Monday in November of each odd-numbered year if the precinct has less than one hundred voters and the nearest polling place is more than twenty miles from the boundary of the precinct, and required the county clerk to notify voters in the precinct at least forty-two days before an election.