New Mexico Code § 1-1-3

"Shall" and "may"
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As used in the Election Code [Chapter 1 NMSA 1978], "shall" is mandatory and "may" is permissive.
History: 1953 Comp., § 3-1-3, enacted by Laws 1969, ch. 240, § 3.
"May" is not infrequently used interchangeably with "must," and, as used in former section dealing with county canvass, imported an absolute obligation. Reese v. Dempsey , 1944-NMSC-039, 48 N.M. 417, 152 P.2d 157 (decided under former law).

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