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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Rodella
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
1/29/08
HB 456
SHORT TITLE Absentee Voting in Small Precincts
SB
ANALYST Ortiz
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY08
FY09
NFI
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates SB256
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Association of County Clerks (ACC)
Attorney General’s Office (AGO)
No Responses Received From
Secretary of State (SOS)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 456 enacts a new section of the Election Code to provide for the designation of an
election precinct as a “mail ballot election precinct" by the Board of County Commissioners
upon the request of the County Clerk if the board finds that the precinct has fewer than fifty
voters and the nearest polling place for an adjoining precinct is more than thirty miles driving
distance from the polling place designated for the precinct in question. The bill would require the
County Clerk to notify voters in that precinct that they will be sent an absentee ballot twenty
eight days before the election and that there will be no polling place for the precinct on election
day. The voter may “opt out" of receiving an absentee ballot by returning a card to the clerk
notifying the clerk that they do not want to receive an absentee ballot.
The clerk must notify voters that a voting system equipped for persons with disabilities will be
available at all early voting sites before election day and in the office of the county clerk on
election day in case the voter prefers to vote in person and not by mail.
pg_0002
House Bill 456 – Page
2
The county clerk must keep a sufficient number of ballots for voters who lose or do not receive
an absentee ballot before election day, so that the voter may vote on an absentee ballot in the
office of the county clerk on election day in lieu of voting using the “missing" ballot.
The bill also amends current sections of the Election Code governing precinct polling places, to
exempt mail ballot election precincts.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The Association of County Clerks expresses concern that this is an unfunded mandate and loss of
ballots can become problematic and expensive, as there is potential to under-order ballots to be
able to replace lost ballots.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
The Attorney General’s Office identified several concerns with mail ballots in New Mexico.
First, the legislature has limited its use. See
NMSA 1978, Section 1-23-7 “Mail ballot elections
shall be used exclusively for voting in those elections specified in Section 1-23-3 and shall not be
used in connection with elections at which candidates are nominated for or elected to office."
Second, the bill could be construed as only requiring the clerk to provide early and election day
in-person voting via voting machine to persons with disabilities, and in-person voting via
absentee ballot on election day for persons who have lost or who have not received their absentee
ballots by mail, and whose ballots are therefore considered to be “missing". In-person voting by
machine on election day does not appear to be available to other voters who “opt-out" of mail-in
voting. Not requiring that all voters cast their votes by mail, or failing to provide voting
machines for all voters who do not wish to vote by mail, could result in confusion and litigation.
PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
The bill requires the County Clerks office send registered mail before each election. The
Association of County Clerks notes that currently no forms in place to accomplish this and the
bill offers no direction as to whose responsibility it is to create these forms i.e.: notification of no
polling place/voter declining to receive mailed ballot. Usual process is SOS creates forms to
meet statewide standards.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
Duplicates SB256. Relates to House Bill 191, which provides for automatic mailing of absentee
ballots for those voters on a permanent early voting list.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
According to the AGO, the requirement that voters be notified that “there will be no polling
place for the precinct on election day" is not technically accurate, as certain voters would in fact
be allowed to vote in person at the County Clerk’s office on election day.
WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL
Current law will govern voting in all precincts in New Mexico.
EO/bb