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(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates/Conflicts with/Companion to/Relates to

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Secretary of State

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 520 enacts a new section of the Presidential Primary Act specifying the proclamation and publication presidential primary procedures and proposes to move the date of New Mexico's presidential primary form the first Tuesday in June to the first Friday after the first Monday in March to coincide with the Western Regional Primary. For FY2000, the date would be March 10th.

The bill also allows the Secretary of State to determine how the election may be conducted which can include the use of mail ballots and the consolidation of precincts.

Significant Issues

The proposed moving of the date is to allow for drawing national attention to the western states during the presidential primary season.

According to the Office of the Secretary of State, the consolidation of precincts will have a negative effect in many counties. "Consolidation in urban areas such as Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces might result in heavy voter concentration and delays in vote casting, while consolidation in most rural areas will result in many voters having to travel quite some distance." The office also states that in the counties with Federal Voting Rights consent decrees "consolidation will most likely not be permitted."

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

This bill provides a general fund appropriation of $1,500.0 to the Office of the Secretary of State to cover the costs of holding the presidential primary election in March 2000. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY2000 reverts to the general fund.

The Office of the Secretary of State indicates that overall costs for mail ballot elections appear to be about 1/3 less that the cost of a conventional election based on Oregon's statewide federal elections experience.

By the date of the presidential primary, it is expected that New Mexico will have approximately 1,000,000 voters of which 900,000 would be eligible to participate in the primary election. According to the Office of the Secretary of State, it would cost approximately $1,175.0 to conduct a statewide, all-mail ballot election for the following items: $580.0 for ballots and leasing high-speed counting equipment, $590.0 for postage, and if the election is conducted by the state, $5.0 for temporary workers. Additionally, if space is not available in the current location of the Secretary of the State's office within the State Capitol, rental of a secure storage and work space may also be needed.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The Secretary of State notes the following issue:

The deadline for the governor to sign bills (and thus for the Bureau of Elections to chapter legislation) will be two days prior to the election. Additionally, during the three-week election canvass, which involves the entire Bureau staff, the filing date for 43 legislative offices, 5 Board of Education offices, 2 Public Regulation Commission offices, and an unknown number of non-retention judicial offices takes place. While not totally impossible, having so many activities compressed into such a short period of time increases the possibility of error and inability to meet certain statutory requirements.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The Office of the Secretary of State indicates that to date, New Mexico mail ballot elections have been confined to local questions only. Based on the experience of the mail ballot election held by the City of Albuquerque, the Office of the Secretary of State predicts that with a statewide election conducted by mail approximately 30% of mailed ballots may be returned undeliverable due to incorrect addresses. It is predicted that the low income and minority populations may be disenfranchised since they are more likely the people who may move frequently and in turn do not re-register to vote.

The Secretary of State notes the following issue:

...voter registration books will be closed for school board elections (unless a bill pending to change the date for school elections is passed and signed). This means there will only be a period of four days between the two elections when new voter registrations can be added to the rolls.

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