A. For each statewide election, the county clerk shall keep an "absentee ballot register", in which the county clerk shall enter:
(1) the name and address of each absentee ballot applicant;
(2) the date and time of receipt of the application;
(3) whether the application was accepted or rejected;
(4) the date of issue of an absentee ballot at an early voting location or the mailing of an absentee ballot to the applicant;
(5) the applicant's precinct;
(6) whether the applicant is a voter and whether the voter is a uniformed-service voter or an overseas voter;
(7) whether the voter is required to submit documentary identification pursuant to Section 1-6-5 NMSA 1978; and
(8) the date and time the completed mailed ballot was received from the voter by the county clerk or the absent voter registered a ballot early in person in the county clerk's office or at an alternate location.
B. For each special election, the county clerk shall keep a "mailed ballot register", in which the county clerk shall enter:
(1) the name and address of each voter to whom a mailed ballot was sent;
(2) the date of mailing of a mailed ballot to the voter;
(3) the applicant's precinct;
(4) whether the voter is a uniformed-service voter or an overseas voter;
(5) whether the voter is required to submit a documentary identification pursuant to Section 1-6-5 NMSA 1978; and
(6) the date and time the completed mailed ballot was received from the voter by the county clerk.
C. Each ballot register is a public record open to public inspection in the county clerk's office during regular office hours. The county clerk shall have an updated ballot register available for public inspection Monday through Friday during regular office hours.
D. The county clerk shall deliver to the absent voter election board on election day a complete list of all absentee ballot applicants and early voters with applicable information shown in the absentee ballot register for each applicant and early voter up to 6:00 p.m. on the Saturday preceding a statewide election. The county clerk shall deliver a signature roster containing the same information as the lists to the absent voter election board.
E. Upon request, the county clerk shall transmit to the county chair of each of the political parties participating in a partisan election in the county a complete copy of entries made in the absentee ballot register. Such transmissions shall be made once each week beginning four weeks immediately prior to the election. A final copy shall be transmitted on the Saturday immediately following the election.
F. If the county clerk has available the technology to do so, at the request of a candidate or chair of a political party of the county, the county clerk shall electronically transmit to the candidate or chair via the internet the information, when updated, on the absentee ballot register indicating voters who have requested absentee ballots, returned their absentee ballots or voted early in person.
History: 1953 Comp., § 3-6-6, enacted by Laws 1969, ch. 240, § 132; 1975, ch. 255, § 86; 1977, ch. 269, § 5; 1981, ch. 150, § 3; 1987, ch. 249, § 19; 1999, ch. 267, § 9; 2001, ch. 105, § 1; 2003, ch. 356, § 21; 2003, ch. 357, § 3; 2009, ch. 251, § 9; 2015, ch. 145, § 45; 2019, ch. 212, § 68.
ANNOTATIONSThe 2019 amendment, effective April 3, 2019, provided additional duties for the county clerk related to mailed ballots, and replaced "precinct board" with "election board"; in Subsection A, in Paragraph A(4), after "absentee ballot", deleted "in the county clerk's office or at an alternate" and added "at an early voting", in Paragraph A(8), after "completed", deleted "absentee" and added "mailed", and after "absent voter", added "registered a ballot"; deleted former Subsection B and added a new Subsection B; and in Subsection D, replaced "precinct board" with "election board" throughout the subsection.
The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, required the county clerk to include in the absentee ballot register whether the applicant is a uniformed-service voter and deleted the requirement to include a federal qualified elector in the absentee ballot register; and in Paragraph (6) of Subsection A, after "applicant is a voter", deleted "a federal qualified elector" and added "and whether the voter is a uniformed-service voter".
The 2009 amendment, effective June 19, 2009, in Subsection B, at the beginning of the paragraph, deleted "Within twenty-four hours after receipt of a voter's application for an absentee ballot"; added the first sentence; added the language in the second sentence from the beginning to "the county clerk"; after "either the ballot", deleted "if it is within twenty-eight days of election day"; and after "rejection to the applicant", added the remainder of the sentence; and in Subsection E, at the beginning of the first sentence, added "Upon request".
The 2003 amendment, effective June 20, 2003, in Subparagraph A(6), deleted "citizen" following "overseas"; inserted Subparagraph A(7); redesignated former A(7) as A(8); in Subsection B, inserted "if it is within twenty-eight days of election day";inserted "and early voters" following "ballot applicants"; in Subsection D, substituted "and early voter up to 6:00 p.m. on the Saturday" for "up to 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday"; in Subsection E, substituted "Saturday" for "Friday" in the second sentence; and added Subsection F.
The 2001 amendment, effective June 15, 2001, inserted the second sentence of Subsection C, which discusses absentee ballot register availability to the public.
The 1999 amendment, effective June 18, 1999, in Subsection A, deleted "county" preceding "address" in Paragraph (1), substituted "issue of an absentee ballot in the county clerk's office or at an alternate location or the mailing" for "delivery or mailing" in Paragraph (4), and added the language beginning "or the absent voter voted" in Paragraph (7); and, in Subsection D, substituted "absent voter precinct" for "absentee board" and "5:00 p.m. on the Thursday preceding" for "noon of the day preceding" in the first sentence and "absent voter precinct board" for "absentee board" in the second sentence.