New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 1 - GENERAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION › Chapter 10 - ELECTIONS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS › Part 35 - VOTER RECORDS SYSTEM › Section 1.10.35.8 - PROCESSING VOTER REGISTRATION CERTIFICATES

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A. Adding and transferring voters.
(1) Upon receipt of a voter registration
				certificate, the county clerk shall run a duplicate search to determine if the
				voter is already registered in the registration records of the county. To
				determine if a record already exists in the statewide voter registration
				system, the duplicate search criteria shall be based on a strong match. The
				county clerk may also conduct additional duplicate searches using different
				criteria to minimize the chance of entering a duplicate record. Additional
				search criteria may be based on weak match criteria. Upon running a duplicate
				search, if the voter's information on the voter registration certificate
				matches with an existing record, the voter shall be updated and transferred
				from another county.
(2) If the
				qualified elector submits a paper voter registration form and provides all
				other required voter information, but only provides the qualified elector's
				driver's license or state identification number, or last four digits of the
				voter's SSN, the county clerk will first verify that the voter has a matching
				MVD record with the provided information. If the county clerk can verify and
				match a MVD record with the qualified elector then the county clerk should
				complete the search stated in Paragraph (1), of Subsection A, of
				1.10.35.8 NMAC. If the county clerk
				is unable to verify the voter has a matching MVD record, the clerk shall,
				within five days, email and mail the voter information with directions on how
				to provide their full SSN on the secure SOS portal.
(3) Upon receipt of a voter registration
				certificate, the county clerk shall run a search in the statewide voter
				registration system to determine if the applicant has been previously marked as
				deceased or is incarcerated in a correctional facility as a result of a felony
				conviction prior to acceptance of the application. If a strong match is found,
				the application shall be processed pursuant to Subsection C of
				1.10.35.8 NMAC. The county clerk
				may conduct additional searches to determine a possible match for purposes of
				ensuring a death record does not exist prior to entering the voter registration
				certificate.
(4) Unless the voter
				is a public official with a designated confidential home address pursuant to
				1.10.37 NMAC, all registrant detail and statutorily required data must be
				entered from the certificate of registration into the voter file including:
				name, full social security number (SSN), physical address, DOB, and an image of
				the signature. If the voter is a public official with such a designation, the
				voter record shall be marked as containing a confidential address, and
				"confidential" shall be entered in the address fields that correspond with the
				confidential address except for the zip code. The zip code indicated on the
				confidential home address designation shall be entered into the voter
				file.
(5) The county clerk may
				establish a best practice of proofreading data entry to prevent errors and
				duplicate voter entry. Proofreading may be done by a staff member who did not
				complete the original entry and the proofreading search for the record may be
				conducted using different criteria (i.e. DOB or name rather than
				SSN).
(6) The county clerk shall
				scan each certificate of voter registration in the county register and attach
				to the electronic voter record. All scanned images attached to a voter record
				transferred to another county shall be retained as attached to that
				record.
(7) Pursuant to Subsection
				C of Section
				1-4-15 NMSA 1978, a voter who does
				not declare a political party preference shall be entered into the voter file
				as "decline to select". County clerk staff shall not check the "no party" box
				on the certificate of voter registration, but shall leave it blank.
(8) A voter who does not declare a qualified
				political party preference shall be entered into the voter file as "decline to
				select."
(9) A voter who is not 18
				years of age at the time of registration shall be placed in "suspense" status.
				At 35 days and 21 days prior to the next election, the county clerk shall run a
				suspense query report of the county voter file and activate suspense voters on
				the appropriate date prior to the election. At 21 days prior to an election,
				the county clerk shall activate all those suspense voters who will be 18 on or
				before the election.
(10) If the
				age question is checked "no" or left blank the application shall nonetheless be
				accepted if the DOB demonstrates that the applicant is over the age of 18 or
				placed in suspense status if the DOB demonstrates the applicant is under the
				age of 18.
(11) When a voter
				registration agent number is provided on an application, the county clerk shall
				note the agent number and the registration form number in the statewide voter
				registration system.