Section 3-8-69 - Recount; recheck; proceedings. - New Mexico Statutes

3-8-69. Recount; recheck; proceedings.

A.     Immediately after filing of the application for recount or recheck, the municipal clerk shall issue a summons directed to the precinct board of each precinct or consolidated precinct specified in the application commanding it to appear at the office of the municipal clerk on a day fixed in the summons, which date shall not be more than ten days after the filing of the application for recount or recheck.  A copy of the summons shall be forwarded to the county clerk of the concerned county.

B.     The municipal clerk shall deliver the summons to a sheriff or state police officer who shall forthwith personally serve it upon each of the precinct board members.  The municipal clerk shall send notices by registered mail of the date, time and place fixed for recount or recheck to the district judge and county clerk.

C.     The precinct board, district judge or the district court judge's designee, county clerk and the municipal clerk shall meet on the date, time and place fixed for the recount or recheck, and the ballot boxes or voting machines of the precinct or consolidated precinct involved in the recount or recheck shall be opened.  The precinct boards shall recount and retally the ballots or recheck the votes cast on the voting machine, as the case may be, and recount and retally the absentee ballots for the office in question in the presence of the municipal clerk, the county clerk, district judge or person designated to act for the judge and any other person who may desire to be present.

D.     During the recount or recheck, the precinct board of a precinct or consolidated precinct where paper ballots used in lieu of voting machines or absentee ballots were used shall recount and retally only the ballots that the election judge accepted and placed in the ballot box at the time they were cast or received, as the case may be.

E.     After completion of the recount or recheck, the precinct board shall replace the ballots or absentee ballots in the ballot box and lock it, or the voting machines shall be locked and resealed, and the precinct board shall certify to the municipal clerk the results of the recount or recheck.  The district judge or the person designated to act for the judge, the county clerk and the municipal clerk shall also certify that the recount or recheck was made in their presence.