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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Gardner
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2/20/07
2/28/07 HB 748/aHVEC
SHORT TITLE Election Nominating Petition Invalidation
SB
ANALYST Ortiz
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY07
FY08
NFI
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Attorney General’s Office (AGO)
No Responses Received From
Secretary of State (SoS)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of HVEC Amendment
The House Voters and Elections Committee amendment adds that a nominating petition and all
signatures are invalid if the petition is altered to change county, candidate name or the office for
which the candidate seeks nomination after the petition is signed by a person.
Synopsis of Original Bill
The bill amends Section 1-8-31 NMSA 1978 of the Election Code by providing that all
signatures on a nominating petition are invalid if the petition is altered to change the office for
which the candidate seeks nomination after the petition is signed by a person.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
According to the Attorney General’s Office, currently, Section 1-8-31 NMSA does not explicitly
state that altering a nominating petition to change the office for which the candidate seeks
election, after a person has signed the petition, invalidates that signature. However, in Gardner