A. All voting systems used in elections covered by the Election Code shall use a paper ballot on which the voter physically or electronically marks the voter's choices on the ballot itself.

B. The secretary of state shall purchase the paper ballots for all counties to use for primary and general elections. If a system designed to print ballots at a polling location is certified and the voting system certification committee finds that its use in a polling place would result in cost savings, the secretary of state shall acquire such systems and paper ballot stock in lieu of fully preprinted paper ballots for those polling places where cost savings would be realized.

C. The paper ballot shall be used in a recount proceeding, and in case of a discrepancy, the paper ballot shall be considered the true and correct record of the voter's choices.

D. The secretary of state shall establish by rule procedures to enable blind or visually impaired voters to independently mark a paper ballot using nonvisual access or low vision access technology, whether voting in a polling place or by absentee ballot.

History: Laws 2005, ch. 270, § 56; 2006, ch. 43, § 2; 2010, ch. 28, § 13; 2017, ch. 101, § 11.

The 2017 amendment, effective June 16, 2017, required the secretary of state to establish procedures by which blind or visually impaired voters may independently mark their ballots; in the catchline, added "access for blind or visually impaired voters"; and added Subsection D.

The 2010 amendment, effective January 1, 2011, in Subsection A, deleted former language, which provided that voting systems owned or used by a county on May 1, 2006 that do not use a paper ballot may be used until an adequate supply of voting systems is available and funds are available to replace the voting system, to acquire the necessary software and to hold the counties harmless for payments due for voting systems under lease-purchase agreements; in Subsection B, after "secretary of state", deleted "to" and added "shall"; after "all counties to use", deleted "on the new voting system"; deleted former Subsection B, which provided that a voting system shall not be used if it has not been certified by the secretary of state and if a competitive bid process has not been conducted by the secretary of state; in new Subsection B, added the second sentence; and in Subsection C, after "ballot shall be used", deleted "by the state or its contractor to check either the veracity of a machine count or the count itself, and shall be used" and after "recount proceeding", deleted "as are absentee ballots".

The 2006 amendment, effective May 17, 2006, in Subsection A, provided that all voting systems shall use a paper ballot on which the voter physically or electronically marks choices on the ballot itself except that voting systems owned or used on May 1, 2006 do not have to use a paper ballot until an adequate supply of voting systems and funds are available; added Paragraphs (1) through (4) of Subsection A, which provided criteria for compliance with the requirement to replace existing voting systems with paper ballot systems; added the provision to Subsection B that no voting system shall be used if a competitive bid process has not be conducted by the secretary of state pursuant to Chapter 13, Article 1 NMSA 1978; deleted former Subsection C, which defined "voting system" and "voter-verifiable and auditable paper trail"; and in Subsection C, deleted "trail" and inserted "ballot" and provided that ballots shall be used on a recount proceeding as are absentee ballots.