NOTE: As provided in LFC policy, this report is intended for use by the standing finance committees of the legislature.  The Legislative Finance Committee does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information in this report when used in any other situation.

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(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to HJR 2, HJR 4, SJR 1, SJR 3

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Secretary of State

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Joint Resolution 12 proposes to amend Articles 5 and 7 of the constitution of New Mexico to require that candidates for office be elected by a majority vote. Also, SJR 12 requires the use of an instant run-off voting system if no candidate receives a majority vote. In addition, the joint resolution authorizes the use of run-off elections or plurality elections in municipalities.

Significant Issues

Under current statute, the county clerks purchase electronic voting machines that meet Federal Election Commission standards and are approved by the Secretary of State. There are only 8 of the state's 3,115 voting machines that may be capable of conducting the necessary tabulations required for instant run-off voting. According to the Secretary of State, if voting machines that cannot electronically redistribute votes are used, then canvassing would be an extremely difficult task and there would be extreme delays in the election results.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The bill calls for a constitutional amendment. This creates a $17.0 fiscal impact to the general fund to advertise and publish constitutional amendments. In addition, the agency indicates that instant run-off voting machines are not in New Mexico. The counties would have to purchase new machines, which range from $0.2 to $1.5 per machine. In addition, software costs range between $100.0 and $175.0 per county, according to Sequoia Pacific Voting Equipment Inc.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

As stated above, if an instant run-off system is implemented without new voting machines, then there would be an extreme negative administrative impact on the office of the Secretary of State because the redistribution of votes would have to be done manually.

CONFLICT/DUPLICATION/COMPANIONSHIP/RELATIONSHIP

Relates to HJR 2, HJR 4, SJR 1, and SJR 3. All these resolutions call for the allowance of run-off elections statewide or in municipalities.

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