1. A. The board of county commissioners shall, in June or July of each odd-numbered year, appoint five voters who shall constitute the board of registration for the county; provided that a county with fewer than five thousand residents as of the last federal decennial census may appoint three voters who shall constitute the board of registration for the county.

2. B. Members of the board of registration shall not during their service be county employees, elected officials or candidates for public office, and not more than two members of the board of registration shall be members of the same political party at the time of their appointment; provided that:

   1. (1) a member of the board of registration shall not have changed party registration in the two years next preceding the member's appointment in such a manner that the member's prior party registration would make the member ineligible to serve on the board of registration; and
   2. (2) a member of the board of registration shall not continue to serve on the board of registration if the member changes party registration after the date of appointment in such a manner to make the member ineligible to serve on the board of registration.
3. C. In the event that a position on the board of registration becomes vacant for any of the reasons described in Section 10-3-1 NMSA 1978, the board of county commissioners shall appoint a replacement who shall qualify pursuant to Subsection B of this section and serve until the expiration of the original term.

History: 1953 Comp., § 3-4-32, enacted by Laws 1969, ch. 240, § 90; 1975, ch. 255, § 52; 1981, ch. 136, § 1; 1995, ch. 124, § 5; 2019, ch. 212, § 55; 2023, ch. 39, § 20.

ANNOTATIONS

Cross references. — For voter defined, see 1-1-5 NMSA 1978.

For boards of registration, not more than two members to be of same party, see N.M. Const., art. VII, § 1.

The 2023 amendment, effective June 16, 2023, revised the date when a board of county commissioners must appoint five voters to the board of registration for the county, and authorized counties with fewer than five thousand residents to appoint three voters to constitute the board of registration of the county; and in Subsection A, after "The board of county commissioners shall", deleted "at its first regular scheduled meeting", after "June", added "or July", after "provided that a", deleted "Class B", deleted "as defined in Section 4-44-1 NMSA 1978 shall", and added "with fewer than five thousand residents as of the last federal decennial census may".

The 2019 amendment, effective April 3, 2019, revised the duties of the board of county commissioners, and revised the requirements for members of the board of registration; in Subsection A, after "meeting in", deleted "February" and added "June", after "appoint", deleted "three" and added "five", and after "registration for the county;", added "provided that a class B county as defined in Section 4-44-1 NMSA 1978 shall appoint three voters who shall constitute the board of registration for the county"; in Subsection B, after the subsection designation, deleted "No" and added "Members of the board of registration shall not during their service be county employees, elected officials or candidates for public office, and not", after "more than two", deleted "of the three persons appointed to" and added "members of", and after "time of their appointment; deleted "provided that if a major party has no registered, qualified elector who is able to fill the position, a registered, qualified elector from another major party may be chosen by the county clerk" and added the remainder of the subsection; and deleted former Subsections C and D and added a new Subsection C.

The 1995 amendment, effective January 1, 1996, rewrote Subsection B which read: "Two of the three persons appointed to the board of registration shall be members of each of the major political parties respectively at the time of their appointment."

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 25 Am. Jur. 2d Elections §§ 183, 188.

29 C.J.S. Elections § 42.