A. Except as otherwise provided in the Recall Act, recall elections shall be conducted and canvassed pursuant to the provisions of the Local Election Act.

B. The date of the recall election shall be set no later than ninety days after the date of the determination by the county clerk; provided that:

(1) the date is not in conflict with the provisions of Section 1-24-1 NMSA 1978; and

(2) if the date of the determination by the county clerk is within ninety days but no less than forty-nine days before a statewide election, the recall election shall be the first ballot question following the election or nomination of candidates on the statewide election ballot; and if the statewide election is a political party primary or the regular local election, ballots containing only the recall ballot question shall be available to voters who do not otherwise qualify to vote in the statewide election.

C. The question to be submitted to the voters at the recall election shall be whether the named official shall be recalled and shall present the voter the choice of voting "for the removal of" the named official or "against the removal of" the named official. The ballot or ballot question shall be in compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended.

History: 1953 Comp., § 77-4A-13, enacted by Laws 1977, ch. 308, § 13; 1979, ch. 277, § 3; 1985, ch. 169, § 8; 1993, ch. 226, § 18; 2015, ch. 145, § 98; 2018, ch. 79, § 90; 1978 Comp., § 22-7-13, recompiled and amended as § 1-25-11 by Laws 2019, ch. 212, § 169.

Cross references. — For the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, see 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973 to 1973bb-1.

Recompilations. — Laws 2019, ch. 212, § 169 recompiled and amended former 22-7-13 NMSA 1978 as 1-25-11 NMSA 1978, effective April 3, 2019.

The 2019 amendment, effective April 3, 2019, revised the procedures for a recall election; in the section heading, deleted "special"; added new Subsection A and redesignated former Subsections A and B as Subsections B and C, respectively; in Subsection B, after "no later than", deleted "one hundred twenty" and added "ninety", after "county clerk;", deleted "but in no event shall the election be held within the period of time prohibited for local government elections pursuant to Section 1-12-71 NMSA 1978" and added "provided that:", and added new Paragraphs B(1) and B(2); and deleted former Subsections C through E.

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, provided that a special recall election may be held in conjunction with a regular local election, and that special recall elections in a school district shall be conducted pursuant to the Local Election Act, except as otherwise provided in the Local School Board Member Recall Act, and made technical and conforming changes; in Subsection C, after "regular or", deleted "a" and added "local", and after "special", deleted "school district"; in Subsection D, completely rewrote the subsection, providing that special recall elections shall be conducted pursuant to the Local Election Act; and deleted former Subsections F and G, which related to conducting special recall elections.

The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, amended the period by when a special recall election may be called; in Subsection A, after "no later than", deleted "ninety" and added "one hundred twenty", and after "county clerk", added "but in no event shall the election be held within the period of time prohibited for local government elections pursuant to Section 1-12-71 NMSA 1978"; and in Subsection B, after "whether", deleted "or not".