New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 1 - GENERAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION › Chapter 10 - ELECTIONS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS › Part 12 - ABSENTEE VOTING › Section 1.10.12.13 - VOTE TABULATION

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A.
				Ballots shall be tabulated for the reporting of votes pursuant to the Election
				Code, Section
				1-12-70 NMSA 1978.
(1) Early voted ballots, not by mail, cast on
				a voting tabulator shall be counted separately from mailed ballots in
				accordance with the Election Code and recorded in the early vote by machine
				counting group.
(a) If an early voted ballot
				is returned by the voting tabulator as overvoted or blank, the ballot shall be
				accepted by the voting tabulator only after requesting and receiving a
				declaration by the voter of their intent to cast the overvoted or blank ballot
				as is.
(b) An early voter who
				declares their intent to cast the overvoted or blank ballot, shall have their
				ballot cast on the voting tabulator. For overvoted ballots, only those contests
				receiving no more than the allotted selections for the number of candidates to
				be elected or ballot questions where there is one selection for either the
				affirmative or negative will be tabulated; for blank ballots, no votes will be
				tabulated.
(c) An early voter who
				declares their intent to not cast the overvoted or blank ballot shall have
				their ballot rejected by the voting tabulator without the tabulation of votes.
				The overvoted ballot shall be spoiled in conjunction with Section
				1-12-62 NMSA 1978. The county clerk
				or election board member shall instruct the voter to insert the spoiled ballot
				into a spoiled ballot envelope and return the spoiled ballot envelope to the
				county clerk. The voter shall then be issued a new ballot, be instructed how to
				mark their selection of alternatives allowed in any candidate contest or ballot
				question in the voting response area and how to personally feed the ballot into
				the voting tabulator.
(i) In the event the
				voter does not wish to spoil their voted ballot and declines a new ballot, the
				overvoted ballot shall be delivered to the absent voter election board, after
				the close of early voting, to be hand tallied in accordance with 1.10.23 NMAC.
				The ballot will be counted and recorded in the early vote by hand tally
				counting group; or,
(ii) If deemed
				necessary by the county clerk, a high-speed central cast tabulator may be
				designated, programmed and certified for the tabulation of such ballots. The
				absent voter election board will adjudicate the overvoted or blank ballot and
				count and record it in the early vote by hand tally counting
				group.
(d) If an early
				voted ballot cast is misread after being fed into the voting tabulator, the
				voter shall be instructed to insert the ballot in a different orientation. If
				the ballot is misread again, the ballot will be spoiled, and the county clerk
				or election board member shall instruct the voter to insert the spoiled ballot
				into a spoiled ballot envelope and return it to the county clerk in conjunction
				with the Election Code, Section
				1-12-62 NMSA 1978. The voter shall
				then be issued a new ballot, be instructed how to mark their selection of
				alternatives allowed in any candidate contest or ballot question in the voting
				response area and how to personally feed the ballot into the voting tabulator.
				In the event the voter does not wish to spoil their voted ballot and declines a
				new ballot, the misread ballot shall be delivered to the absent voter election
				board, after the close of the early voting period, by the election board, to be
				hand tallied in accordance with 1.10.23 NMAC. The ballot will be counted and
				recorded in the early vote by hand tally counting group.