Opinion No. 36-1402
July 9, 1936
TO: Mr. Clyde C. McCulloh, Assistant District Attorney, Third Judicial District, Estancia, New Mexico.
{*128} This is in reply to your letter of July 7th, 1936, asking for our opinion upon the manner of registering persons for the next general election. You ask the following questions:
"Is it compulsory to register each man by his given name, and the wife by the husband's given name also, or is it permissible to register a man by his initials only."
I call your attention to Section 11, Chapter 147, Laws of 1935, which provides:
"All names of electors shall be entered alphabetically as to the first letter of the surname, followed by the given name and initial and the prefix, 'Mr.', 'Mrs.' or 'Miss.' All married women shall be registered according to the name of the husband and not by the wife's given name."
It seems to me that this provision of the statute plainly requires that electors be registered according to their given name and that it is not permissible to use the initials only.
By QUINCY D. ADAMS,
Asst. Atty. General