44TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 1999

RELATING TO ELECTIONS; CHANGING THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR MAJOR PARTY STATUS.

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

Section 1. Section 1-1-9 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1969, Chapter 240, Section 8, as amended) is amended to read:

"1-1-9. MAJOR POLITICAL PARTY--MINOR POLITICAL PARTY.--As used in the Election Code:

A. "major political party" means any qualified political party, any of whose candidates received as many as five percent of the total number of votes cast at the last preceding general election for the office of governor [or president of the United States, as the case may be] and whose membership totals not less than one-third of one percent of the statewide registered voter file on the day of the governor's primary election proclamation; and

B. "minor political party" means any qualified political party, none of whose candidates received five percent or more of the total number of votes cast at the last preceding general election for the office of governor [or president of the United States, as the case may be]."

Section 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 1999.