2020 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 1 - Elections
Article 14 - Contests and Recounts
Section 1-14-24 - Automatic recounts; elections for state and federal offices; procedures. (Contingent effective date. See note below.)

A. An automatic recount of the vote is required when the canvass of returns indicates that the margin between the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes for an office, the margin between those supporting and those opposing a ballot question or the margin affecting the outcome of a nonpartisan judicial retention election is less than:

(1) one-fourth percent of the total votes cast in that election:

(a) for that office in the case of a federal or statewide office;

(b) on a ballot question in the case of a state ballot question; or

(c) on a nonpartisan judicial retention election in the case of the supreme court or the court of appeals;

(2) one-half percent of the total votes cast in that election:

(a) for that office in the case of a public education commissioner, district attorney or any office elected countywide in a county with more than one hundred fifty thousand registered voters;

(b) on a ballot question in the case of a local ballot question; or

(c) on a nonpartisan judicial retention election in the case of a district court or the metropolitan court; or

(3) one percent of the total votes cast in that election for that office in the case of any other office.

B. For an office for which ballots were cast in more than one county, the secretary of state shall file notice with the state canvassing board upon the completion of the state canvass that an automatic recount is required, and the state canvassing board shall order a recount of the ballots for the specified office. For an office in which ballots were cast solely within one county, the secretary of state shall file notice with the state canvassing board within seven days after receiving notice from the county clerk following the completion of the county canvass that an automatic recount is required, and the state canvassing board shall order a recount of the ballots for the specified office.

C. Automatic recounts shall be conducted pursuant to the recount procedures established in Sections 1-14-16 and 1-14-18 through 1-14-23 NMSA 1978.

History: Laws 2008, ch. 41, § 1; 2015, ch. 145, § 78; 2019, ch. 212, § 130; 2020, ch. 9, § 9.

Contingent effective date. — Laws 2020, ch. 9, § 9 amended 1-14-24 NMSA 1978, effective January 1, 2023, contingent upon certification by the secretary of state that the constitution of New Mexico has been amended as proposed by a joint resolution of the first session of the fifty-fourth legislature (Laws 2019, SJC/SRC/SJR Nos. 1 and 4, CA #1) at the general election to be held on November 3, 2020.

The 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2023, removed public regulation commissioners from the candidate contests in which automatic recounts apply; in Subsection A, Subparagraph A(2)(a), after "the case of a", deleted "public regulation commissioner".