HOUSE BILL 496

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015

INTRODUCED BY

Patricia Roybal Caballero

AN ACT

RELATING TO ELECTIONS; ALLOWING QUALIFIED ELECTORS TO REGISTER TO VOTE IN PERSON AT THE COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE FOURTEEN DAYS BEFORE AN ELECTION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 1-4-8 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1969, Chapter 240, Section 66, as amended) is amended to read:

     "1-4-8. DUTIES OF COUNTY CLERK--ACCEPTANCE OF REGISTRATION--CLOSE OF REGISTRATION--EXCEPTION FOR IN-PERSON REGISTRATION AT COUNTY CLERK OFFICE--FEDERAL QUALIFIED ELECTORS AND OVERSEAS VOTERS--LATE REGISTRATION.--

          A. For qualified electors other than federal qualified electors or overseas voters, and except as provided in Subsection B of this section, the following provisions shall apply:

                (1) the county clerk shall receive certificates of registration at all times during normal working hours, except that the clerk shall close registration at 5:00 p.m. on the twenty-eighth day immediately preceding any election at which the registration books are to be furnished to the precinct board;

                (2) registration shall be reopened on the Monday following the election;

                (3) for purposes of a municipal or school election, the registration period for those precincts within the municipality or school district is closed at 5:00 p.m. on the twenty-eighth day immediately preceding the municipal or school election and is opened again on the Monday following the election;

                (4) during the period when registration is closed, the county clerk shall receive certificates of registration and other documents pertaining thereto but shall not file [the] any certificate of registration in the registration book until the Monday following the election, at which time a voter information document shall be mailed to the registrant at the address shown on the certificate of registration;

                (5) when the twenty-eighth day prior to any election referred to in this section is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, registration shall be closed at 5:00 p.m. of the next succeeding regular business day for the office of the county clerk; and

                (6) the county clerk shall accept for filing any certificate of registration that is subscribed and dated on or before the twenty-eighth day preceding the election and:

                     (a) received by the county clerk before 5:00 p.m. on the Friday immediately following the close of registration;

                      (b) mailed and postmarked not less than twenty-eight days prior to any election referred to in this section; or

                     (c) accepted at a state agency designated pursuant to Section 1-4-5.2 NMSA 1978.

          B. For a qualified elector who completes a certificate of registration in person at the county clerk's office by 5:00 p.m. on the fourteenth day immediately preceding any election referred to in this section:

                (1) the registration period shall not be closed until 5:00 p.m. on the fourteenth day prior to the election, unless that day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, in which case registration shall close at 5:00 p.m. on the next succeeding regular business day for the office of the county clerk; and

                (2) the county clerk shall accept for filing the completed certificate of registration from that qualified elector.

          [B.] C. For federal qualified electors and overseas voters, the county clerk shall accept a certificate of registration by electronic transmission from a voter qualified to apply for and vote by absentee ballot in the county if the transmission is received before 5:00 p.m. on the Friday immediately preceding the election."

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