New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 1 - GENERAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION › Chapter 10 - ELECTIONS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS › Part 18 - ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLAINT PROCEDURE › Section 1.10.18.10 - HEARING ON A COMPLAINT

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A. If
				the complainant requests a hearing and the bureau does not dismiss the
				complaint, the bureau will appoint a hearing officer to conduct a hearing
				on-the-record.
B. If the
				complainant did not request a hearing and the bureau does not dismiss the
				complaint, the bureau shall make a final determination in accordance with the
				remedies provision of these administrative procedures.
C. If the complaint is made against the
				bureau, the office of the secretary of state shall provide a neutral hearing
				officer who has no working or personal relationship with the office of the
				secretary of state.
D. For all
				other complaints, the office of the secretary of state shall provide a hearing
				officer. It may be, but is not limited to, an employee of the office of the
				secretary of state.
E. The bureau
				shall provide a time, date and location for the hearing and shall send written
				notice to complainant and alleged violator at least fifteen (15) days prior to
				the hearing. If there is an expedited hearing, the hearing officer shall
				provide telephonic and facsimile notice.
F. Upon written request to another party, any
				party may ask to obtain the names and addresses of witnesses who will or may be
				called by the other party to testify at the hearing and inspect and copy any
				documents that the other party will or may introduce in evidence at the
				hearing. The party to whom such a request is made should comply with it within
				ten (10) days after the receipt of the request. The hearing officer, however,
				has no statutory power to force the parties to comply with these
				requests.
G. If there is a hearing
				on the record, the record will include, at a minimum: the written complaint;
				written responses to the complaint; documentation provided in support of or in
				defense of the complaint; and written or audio record or any hearing or
				pre-hearing proceedings conducted by the hearing officer with regard to the
				complaint.
H. The hearing officer
				has the discretion to grant continuances, to take testimony or to examine
				witnesses. The hearing officer may also hold conferences before or during the
				hearing for the settlement or simplification of the issues.
I. The hearing officer may admit any evidence
				and may give probative effect to evidence that is of a kind commonly relied on
				by reasonably prudent people in the conduct of serious affairs. The hearing
				officer may, in his discretion, exclude incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial,
				and unduly repetitious evidence.
J.
				The bureau shall provide a tape recording of any on-the-record hearing. If a
				party wants a court reporter, that party must pay the cost.
K. If a person who has requested a hearing
				does not appear, and no continuance has been granted, the hearing officer may
				hear the evidence of such witnesses as may have appeared, and the hearing
				officer may proceed to consider the matter and dispose of it on the basis of
				the evidence before it. Where, because of accident, sickness or other cause, a
				person fails to appear for a hearing that he has requested, the person may,
				within ten (10) days, apply in writing to the hearing officer to reopen the
				proceeding, and the hearing officer upon finding sufficient cause shall
				immediately fix a time and place for a hearing and give the person notice as
				required above.