Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024
A. Qualified
provisional ballots shall be counted for the reporting of votes by precinct and
voting method for each candidate contest or ballot question, as specified in
the Election Code, Section
1-12-70 NMSA 1978. Only the votes
for those candidate contests or ballot questions for which the voter is
eligible to vote shall be counted, as follows:
(1) A qualified mailed ballot, processed as a
provisional ballot, in a provisional ballot envelope prescribed by the
secretary of state because the first time voter did not provide the required
form of physical identification prior to the ballot issuance, shall be hand
tallied and recorded in the absentee provisional by hand tally counting group,
or tabulated by a voting tabulator designated, programmed and certified for
such specific use, and recorded in the absentee provisional by machine counting
group.
(2) A qualified absentee
replacement ballot, processed as a provisional ballot, in a provisional ballot
envelope prescribed by the secretary of state because the absentee voter did
not receive, or if received, did not vote the mailed ballot, shall be hand
tallied and recorded in the absentee provisional by hand tally counting group,
or tabulated by a voting tabulator designated, programmed and certified for
such specific use, and recorded in the absentee provisional by machine counting
group.
(3) A qualified provisional
ballot issued during early voting in the office of the county clerk, alternate
voting location or mobile alternate voting location shall be hand tallied and
recorded in the early voting provisional by hand tally counting group, or
tabulated by a voting tabulator designated, programmed and certified for such
specific use, and recorded in the early voting provisional by machine counting
group.
(4) A qualified provisional
ballot issued on election day shall be hand tallied and recorded in the
election day provisional by hand tally counting group, or tabulated by a voting
tabulator designated, programmed and certified for such use, and recorded in
the election day provisional by machine counting group.
(5) A qualified federal write-in absentee
ballot shall be hand tallied and shall be counted and recorded in the federal
overseas hand tally counting group.
(6) The hand tally of votes from qualified
provisional ballots shall be conducted in accordance with 1.10.23 NMAC by a
team of at least two persons. The team shall consist of one reader and one
marker, not of the same political party, if possible. The reader shall read the
ballot to the marker and the marker shall observe whether the reader has
correctly read each vote from the ballot; the marker shall then mark the tally
sheet of the precinct, voting method and voting location where the ballot was
cast, and the reader shall observe whether the marker correctly marked the
tally sheet. The hand tally team shall observe the following:
(a) Only the votes for the candidates or
ballot questions from the precinct the voter is eligible to vote for shall be
counted;
(b) Each ballot shall
increase the ballots cast count by one;
(c) Only those contests receiving no more
than the allotted selections for the number of candidates to be elected or
ballot questions where there is one selection for either the affirmative or
negative will be hand tallied on overvoted ballots;
(d) No votes for either candidate contests or
ballot questions will be hand tallied for blank ballots;
(e) Only those candidate contests or ballot
questions receiving a selection by the voter will be hand tallied on an
undervoted ballot; and,
(f)
Overvoted, blank or undervoted ballots cast by voters, after going through the
above process shall be recorded as a "ballot cast" and proper voting credit
shall be given on the respective voter registration record on file with the
county clerk.
(7) When a
voting tabulator is used for the counting and recording of qualified
provisional ballots of voters who were issued a ballot for their correct voting
precinct, a member of the county canvassing board shall feed the ballots into
the voting tabulator.
(a) An overvoted or
blank provisional ballot shall be accepted by the voting tabulator after it has
been adjudicated by the county canvassing board. The ballot will be counted and
recorded in the appropriate machine counting group, as detailed
above.
(b) If a provisional ballot
is misread after being fed into a voting tabulator, a county canvass board
member shall feed it into the voting tabulator a second time. A provisional
ballot that is rejected after two attempts shall be adjudicated by the county
canvass board, hand tallied, counted and recorded in the appropriate hand tally
counting group, as detailed above.
B. During the counting of qualified
provisional ballots, the county clerk shall ensure that observers are not
permitted to see the identity of any voter whose ballot is being tallied. If,
in the instance of only one provisional ballot cast in an alternate voting
location, mobile voting location or election day polling place, the observer
may know the identity of the voter, but may not observe the tally of the
ballot.
C. Upon the conclusion of
the county canvass, the county clerk shall transmit the provisional ballot
results to the office of the secretary of state in accordance with the Election
Code, Subsection H of Section
1-12-25.4 NMSA 1978, and the county
canvassing board shall direct the county clerk to prepare the required
provisional ballot report.
D. If
there is a discrepancy in the number of provisional ballots returned based on
the number of provisional ballots issued, the county canvassing board shall
follow the procedures set out in the Election Code, Section
1-13-1 to
1-13-22 NMSA 1978.
