1. A. Notwithstanding any other provision of the Rural Electric Cooperative Act, the bylaws of a cooperative may provide that the territory in which a cooperative supplies electric energy to its members shall be divided into two or more voting districts and that, in respect of each such voting district:

   1. (1) a designated number of trustees shall be elected by the members residing in that district;
   2. (2) a designated number of delegates shall be elected by the members residing in that district; or
   3. (3) both trustees and delegates shall be elected by the members residing in that district.
2. B. The bylaws shall prescribe the manner in which voting districts, and the members, delegates and trustees thereof, if any, elected therefrom, shall function. The bylaws shall also set forth the powers of the delegates, which may include the power to elect trustees. No delegate who has voted by proxy or by mail on an issue or question shall vote in person on the same issue or question.
3. C. Voting by members at voting district meetings shall be in person, unless otherwise provided in the bylaws. The bylaws shall prescribe the conditions under which voting by mail shall be exercised.

History: Laws 1939, ch. 47, § 10; 1941 Comp., § 48-410; 1953 Comp., § 45-4-10; 2011, ch. 38, § 1; 2019, ch. 131, § 2.

ANNOTATIONS

The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, provided that no delegate of a rural electric cooperative who has voted by proxy or by mail on an issue or question shall vote in person on the same issue or question; and in Subsection B, after "No delegate", deleted "at any meeting shall vote" and added "who has voted", and after "by proxy or by mail", added "on an issue or question shall vote in person on the same issue or question".

The 2011 amendment, effective June 17, 2011, added Subsection C to require that voting at voting district meetings be in person unless the bylaws provide otherwise, and to permit the bylaws to provide for voting by mail.

Amendment vote by districts rather than at general meeting deemed legal. — It is legal to provide for the amendment of bylaws by a majority vote of the members voting by districts, rather than at a general meeting of all the members. This interpretation does no violence to Section 62-15-7 NMSA 1978, since that section mentions "regular annual meeting" and "special meeting," and does not exclude a regular annual meeting or special meeting of a voting district. The interpretation is supported by the liberal construction required to be given these statutes under Section 62-15-32 NMSA 1978. 1961 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 61-62.

Rural electric cooperative cannot take away power of majority. — A rural electric cooperative may provide for the amendment of its bylaws by a vote taken at a series of meetings of voting districts rather than at a general meeting of all the members, but, in so doing, it cannot take away the power of the majority of members to adopt, amend or repeal the bylaws. 1961 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 61-62.