Section 1-6-16.1 - Absentee ballot; conduct of election; when not timely received; emergency procedure for voting and counting. - New Mexico Statutes

1-6-16.1. Absentee ballot; conduct of election; when not timely received; emergency procedure for voting and counting.

A.     A voter who applies for an absentee ballot but has not received the absentee ballot by mail as of the date of the election may go to the voter's assigned polling place and, after executing an affidavit of nonreceipt of absentee ballot, shall be permitted to vote on a replacement absentee paper ballot.

B.     The completed ballot shall be placed in an official inner envelope substantially as prescribed by Section 1-6-8 NMSA 1978 and sealed.  The official inner envelope shall then be placed in an official envelope substantially as prescribed for a transmittal envelope or mailing envelope in Section 1-6-8 NMSA 1978.  This envelope shall contain a form on its back that identifies the voter by name and signature roster number and a printed statement to the effect that the voter made application for an absentee ballot but had not received it as of the date of the election and is permitted to vote by replacement absentee paper ballot.

C.     The presiding judge shall put all replacement absentee ballots in a special envelope provided for that purpose by the county clerk, seal it and return it to the county clerk along with the machine tally sheets.  The sealed envelope shall not be put in the locked ballot box.

D.     Upon receipt of the envelope containing replacement absentee ballots, the county clerk, no later than forty-eight hours after the close of the election, shall remove the transmittal envelopes and, without removing or opening the inner envelopes, determine that:

(1)     the voter did in fact make application for an absentee ballot; and

(2)     no absentee ballot was received by the county clerk from the voter by 7:00 p.m. on election day. 

E.     Upon making that determination, the county clerk shall remove the inner envelope without opening it, retain the transmittal envelope with the other election returns and place the inner unopened envelope in a secure container to be transmitted to the county canvassing board to be tallied and included in the canvass of that county for the appropriate precinct.

F.     The secretary of state shall prescribe and furnish the necessary envelopes for purposes of this section and shall adopt rules deemed necessary to preserve the secrecy of the replacement absentee paper ballots.