2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 1 - Elections › Article 6 - Absentee Voting › Section 1-6-16.1 - Absentee ballot; conduct of election; when not timely received; emergency procedure for voting and counting.

A. A voter who applies for a mailed ballot or who was sent a mailed ballot pursuant to Section 1-6-22.1 NMSA 1978 but whose voted ballot has not been received by the county clerk as of the date of the election may go to a voter convenience center and, after executing an affidavit stating that the person wishes to void any previous mailed ballot that was issued, shall be permitted to vote.
B. If the county clerk has real-time synchronization between the voter convenience centers and the qualification of ballots received by mail, the voter shall be issued a replacement ballot to be filled out and fed by the voter into the electronic vote tabulator. If the county clerk does not have real-time synchronization between the voter convenience centers and the qualification of ballots received by mail, the voter shall be issued a provisional paper ballot, which shall be counted if no challenge is interposed and once the county clerk has verified that no other ballot from the same voter has been processed in that election.
History:
Laws 1989, ch. 368, § 1; 1991, ch. 105, § 14; 1999, ch. 267, § 19; 2009, ch. 150, § 6; 2019, ch. 212, § 75; 2023, ch. 39, § 34.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2023 amendment,
effective June 16, 2023, clarified provisional ballot provisions; in Subsection A, after "applies for a mailed ballot", added "or who was sent a mailed ballot pursuant to Section 1-6-22.1 NMSA 1978", after "but", deleted "has not received or returned the ballot by mail" and added "whose voted ballot has not been received by the county clerk", after "may go to", deleted "the voter's assigned polling place or", after "stating that the person", deleted "did not and will not vote the" and added "wishes to void any previous", and after "permitted to vote", deleted "on a provisional paper ballot"; and in Subsection B, after "synchronization between the", deleted "election day polling places" and added "voter convenience centers", and added "If the county clerk does not have real-time synchronization between the voter convenience centers and the qualification of ballots received by mail, the voter shall be issued a provisional paper ballot, which shall be counted if no challenge is interposed and once the county clerk has verified that no other ballot from the same voter has been processed in that election.".
The 2019 amendment,
effective April 3, 2019, changed "absentee ballot" to "mailed ballot", revised the procedures related to mailed ballots not timely received, and provided that if the county clerk has real-time synchronization between the election-day polling places and the qualification of ballots received by mail, the voter is to be issued a replacement ballot to be filled out and fed by the voter into the electronic vote tabulator; in Subsection A, after "applies for", deleted "an absentee" and added "a mailed", after "received", added "or returned", after "assigned polling place", added "or a voter convenience center", after "affidavit", deleted "of nonreceipt of absentee ballot" and added "stating that the person did not and will not vote the mailed ballot that was issued", and after "vote on a", deleted "replacement absentee" and added "provisional"; and deleted former Subsections B through F and added a new Subsection B.
The 2009 amendment,
effective June 19, 2009, in Subsection A, deleted "present himself at his" and added "go to the voter's", and after "to vote on", deleted "an emergency" and added "a replacement absentee"; in Subsection B, in the last sentence, after "to vote by", deleted "emergency" and added "replacement absentee"; in Subsection C, after "presiding", deleted "election" and after "shall put all" added "replacement"; and in Subsection F, after "secrecy of the", deleted "emergency" and added "replacement absentee".
The 1999 amendment,
effective June 18, 1999, deleted "or a marksense ballot" at the end of Subsections B and C; substituted "retain the transmittal envelope with the other election returns and place the inner unopened envelope in a secure container" for "destroy the transmittal envelope and place the inner envelope in a secure place" in Subsection E; and substituted "emergency paper ballots" for "ballot" in Subsection F.
The 1991 amendment,
effective April 2, 1991, added "or a marksense ballot" at the end of Subsections A and B and made a minor stylistic change in Subsection B.