New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 1 - GENERAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION
Chapter 10 - ELECTIONS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS
Part 14 - RANKED CHOICE VOTING AND TOP-TWO RUNOFF ELECTION
Section 1.10.14.7 - DEFINITIONS
Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024
A. "Choice" means an indication on a ballot of a voter's assigned ranking of candidates for any single office according to the voter's preference. The standards for what constitutes a vote is codified in 1.10.23.12 NMAC and is incorporated by reference.
B. "Continuing ballot" means a ballot with votes that count towards a continuing candidate.
C. "Continuing candidate" means a candidate that has not been eliminated, including a candidate in the first round.
D. "Duplicate ranking" means a voter has ranked the same candidate at multiple rankings for the office being counted.
E. "Exhausted ballot" means a ballot that cannot be advanced because no further continuing candidates are ranked on that ballot.
F. "Incorrectly marked ballot" means a ballot showing an overvote or duplicate ranking.
G. "Majority of votes" means more than half of the votes cast for a continuing candidate.
H. "Next ranked" means the highest ranked choice for a continuing candidate.
I. "Overvote" means a voter has ranked more than one candidate at the same ranking.
J. "Ranked choice voting" means an election system in which voters rank the candidates for office in order of preference, and the votes cast for that office are counted in rounds that simulate a series of runoffs until one candidate receives a majority of votes. Ranked choice voting is also known as "instant runoff voting."
K. "Round" means a step in the counting process during which votes for all continuing candidates are tabulated for the purpose of determining whether a candidate has achieved a majority of votes cast for a particular office and, absent a majority, which candidate or candidates must be eliminated.
L. "Skipped ranking" means a voter has left a ranking blank and ranks a candidate in a subsequent ranking.
M. "Undervote" means an office on a ballot in which the voter did not rank any candidates for that office.
N. "Unused ranking" means the voter has ranked at least one but not all candidates.
O. "Vote" means a choice that is counted toward the election of a candidate in a runoff election.
