A. Prior to commencement of the federal decennial census, the secretary of state shall review all county precinct maps submitted pursuant to Section 1-3-12 NMSA 1978 for compliance with the provisions of the Precinct Boundary Adjustment Act and Section 1-3-1 NMSA 1978. Those county precinct maps determined not to be in compliance with the precinct boundary criteria set forth in Subsection A of Section 1-13-12 NMSA 1978 or Section 1-3-1 NMSA 1978 shall be rejected and returned to the appropriate county clerk with a written statement setting forth those instances in which the map does not comply. The county clerk and the board of county commissioners shall make the required adjustments within thirty days after receiving notice of noncompliance.

B. Following receipt of the results of a federal decennial census, the secretary of state shall again follow the procedures outlined in Subsection A of this section to allow the counties to make any necessary adjustments. For any county that does not make the required adjustments within thirty days after receiving notice of noncompliance following receipt of the results of a federal decennial census, the secretary of state shall send a second notice of noncompliance, and no later than June 30 of the same year, if any precinct boundary adjustments are necessary to meet the legal requirements of redistricting, pursuant to Sections 1-3-1 and 1-3-12 NMSA 1978, the secretary of state shall adjust the boundaries of the precincts only to the extent necessary to achieve compliance with the requirements of those sections and notify the county of those boundary adjustments.

History: Laws 1983, ch. 223, § 4; 1984 (1st S.S.), ch. 3, § 5; 1991, ch. 40, § 1; 1991, ch. 237, § 1; 1991 (1st S.S.), ch. 6, § 8; 1997, ch. 85, § 2; 2009, ch. 222, § 3; 2019, ch. 212, § 42.

The 2019 amendment, effective April 3, 2019, provided additional duties for the secretary of state prior to and following receipt of the federal decennial census; in Subsection A, after the subsection designation, added "Prior to commencement of the federal decennial census", after "Precinct Boundary Adjustment Act", added "and Section 1-3-1 NMSA 1978", after "Section 1-3-12 NMSA 1978", added "or Section 1-3-1 NMSA 1978", and after "required adjustments", deleted "and resubmit one copy of the corrected county precinct map"; and in Subsection B, after the subsection designation, deleted "Prior to January 1, 2020" and added "Following receipt of the results of a federal decennial census, the secretary of state shall again follow the procedures outlined in Subsection A of this section to allow the counties to make any necessary adjustments. For any county that does not make the required adjustments within thirty days after receiving notice of noncompliance following receipt of the results of a federal decennial census, the secretary of state shall send a second notice of noncompliance and no later than June 30 of the same year", after "meet the legal", deleted "and constitutional", after "redistricting", added "pursuant to Sections 1-3-1 and 1-3-12 NMSA 1978", after "secretary of state shall", added "adjust the boundaries of the precincts only to the extent necessary to achieve compliance with the requirements of those sections and", and after "adjustments", deleted the remainder of the subsection, which related to approval of precincts for prior elections years.

The 2009 amendment, effective April 7, 2009, in Subsection B, in the first sentence, changed "January 1, 2002" to "January 1, 2012", and after "constitutional requirements of", deleted "legislative reapportionment" and added "redistricting"; and in the last sentence, changed "2002" to "2012".

The 1997 amendment, effective on June 20, 1997, in the second sentence of Subsection A, inserted "with the precinct boundary criteria set forth in Subsection A of Section 1-13-12 NMSA 1978", deleted "of noncompliance" following "statement", and substituted "does not comply" for "is in default"; and, in Subsection B, substituted "2002" for "1992" in two places.

The 1991 (1st S.S.) amendment, effective October 4, 1991, substituted "one copy" for "four copies" in the last sentence in Subsection A; deleted former Subsection B, relating to duty of secretary of state to send county's new precinct map to bureau of census"; and redesignated former Subsection C as Subsection B.

The 1991 amendment, effective April 4, 1991, substituted "Section 1-3-12 NMSA 1978" for "Section 3 of the Precinct Boundary Adjustment Act" and "the Precinct Boundary Adjustment Act" for "that Act" in the first sentence in Subsection A and added Subsection C.