HOUSE BILL 902

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2005

INTRODUCED BY

Joseph Cervantes

AN ACT

RELATING TO ELECTIONS; REQUIRING REGISTRATION AGENTS TO PROVIDE APPLICANTS WITH A SIGNED COPY OF THE CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION.

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

     Section 1. A new section of Chapter 1, Article 1 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] REGISTRATION AGENT.--As used in the Election Code, "registration agent" means a state or federal employee who provides voter registration at a state agency or any other individual who assists another person in completion of a voter registration application."

     Section 2. Section 1-4-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1969, Chapter 240, Section 63, as amended) is amended to read:

     "1-4-5. METHOD OF REGISTRATION--UNLAWFUL USE OF INFORMATION--PENALTY.--

          A. A qualified elector may apply to a registration officer or agent for registration.

          B. The registration officer or agent or qualified elector shall fill out each of the blanks on the original and the voter's copy of the certificate of registration by typing or printing in ink. [Carbon paper may be used between the original and the voter's copy.] The voter shall be given a duplicate, which may be a carbon copy, of the original, and which shall contain the name of the registration agent, if any, who assisted the applicant.

          C. The qualified elector shall subscribe a certificate of registration as follows:

                (1) [a person shall sign his original] by signing the certificate of registration using [his] the qualified elector's given name, middle name or initial and last name; or

                (2) if any qualified elector seeking to register is unable to read and write either the English or Spanish language or is unable to read or write because of some physical disability, the certificate of [such] the person shall be filled out by a registration officer or agent and the name of the qualified elector so registering shall be subscribed by the making of [his] the qualified elector's mark.

          D. When properly executed by the registration officer or agent, the original [and the voter's copy] of the certificate of registration shall be presented, either in person or by mail by the qualified elector or by the registration agent or officer, to the county clerk of the county in which the qualified elector resides.

          E. Only when the certificate of registration is properly filled out, subscribed by the qualified elector and accepted for filing by the county clerk as evidenced by [his] the county clerk's signature or stamp and the date of acceptance thereon shall it constitute an official public record of the registration of the qualified elector. It is unlawful for any information required on the certificate of registration to be copied, conveyed or used by anyone other than the person registering to vote, either before or after it is filed with the county clerk, except by elections administrators for purposes of the registration process.

          F. A person who unlawfully copies, conveys or uses information from a certificate of registration is guilty of a fourth degree felony."

     Section 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2005.

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