2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 1 - Elections › Article 2 - Election Officers and Boards › Section 1-2-7 - Election board; qualification of members; qualification of presiding judges; qualification of qualified residents.

A. In order to qualify for appointment by the county clerk as a member of the election board, a person shall:
(1) be a voter of the county in which the person is appointed to serve;
(2) be able to read and write;
(3) have the necessary capacity to carry out an election board member's functions with acceptable skill and dispatch; and
(4) execute the election board member's oath of office.
B. Before serving as a presiding judge of an election board, a person shall receive training in the duties of that position by the county clerk.
C. No person shall be qualified for appointment or service on an election board:
(1) who is a candidate to be voted for at the election;
(2) who is a spouse, domestic partner, parent, child, brother or sister of any candidate to be voted for at the election;
(3) who is married to a parent, child, brother or sister of any candidate to be voted for at the election or who is the parent of the spouse or domestic partner of any candidate to be voted for at the election; or
(4) who is a sheriff, deputy sheriff, marshal, deputy marshal or state or municipal police officer.
D. A county clerk may appoint qualified residents to serve on an election board under the direct supervision of the presiding judge. A qualified resident appointed by the county clerk shall:
(1) meet the qualifications set forth in Paragraphs (2) through (4) of Subsection A of this section; and
(2) be sixteen or seventeen years of age at the time of the election in which the qualified resident is serving as a member of an election board.
E. A qualified resident appointed to an election board shall not serve as the presiding judge or as an election judge.
History:
1953 Comp., § 3-2-8, enacted by Laws 1969, ch. 240, § 29; 1971, ch. 317, § 3; 1975, ch. 255, § 13; 1981, ch. 159, § 2; 2005, ch. 270, § 12; 2010, ch. 90, § 1; 2011, ch. 137, § 14; 2019, ch. 212, § 20; 2023, ch. 39, § 11.
ANNOTATIONS
Cross references.
— For secretary of state prescribing form of precinct board member's oath,
see
1-11-16 NMSA 1978.
The 2023 amendment,
effective June 16, 2023, revised the qualifications for appointment or service on an election board, and removed a provision limiting the number of minors that a county clerk may appoint to serve on an election board; deleted "minor" and added "qualified resident" throughout the section; in Subsection A, after "In order to qualify", added "for appointment by the county clerk"; in Subsection B, after "duties of that position", deleted "and be certified for the position"; in Subsection C, Paragraphs C(2) and C(3), after "spouse", added "domestic partner"; and in Subsection D, after "may appoint", deleted "not more than two minors" and added "qualified residents", in Paragraph D(1), after "set forth in", added "Paragraphs (2) through (4) of", and after "of this section", deleted "except the minor need not be eligible to vote", and deleted former Paragraphs D(3) through D(6), which provided certain qualifications for minors to serve on an election board.
The 2019 amendment,
effective April 3, 2019, replaced "precinct board" with "election board" throughout the section.
The 2011 amendment,
effective July 1, 2011, required members of precinct boards to be voters of the county in which they serve; prohibited the appointment of a person who is married to a person related to a candidate to be voted for at the election or who is the parent of the spouse of a candidate; and permitted the appointment of minors only to the precinct board in the county in which the minor's parents or legal guardian reside.
The 2010 amendment,
effective May 19, 2010, in the catchline, added "qualification of minors"; in Subsection A(3), after "capacity to carry out", deleted "his" and added "a precinct board member's"; and added Subsections D and E.
The 2005 amendment,
effective July 1, 2005, added Subsection B to provide that a person shall receive training and be certified before serving as a presiding judge of a precinct board.
Oath of precinct official.
— Former Election Code provision, as amended, dealing with oath of precinct election officials merely required that each group of officials certify that they had and would discharge the duties of their respective offices faithfully and impartially.
Seele v. Smith
, 1947-NMSC-068, 51 N.M. 484, 188 P.2d 337.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references.
— 25 Am. Jur. 2d Elections § 90.
29 C.J.S. Elections § 61.