A. An elected official of the following local jurisdictions is subject to recall pursuant to the provisions of the Recall Act:

(1) a school district, pursuant to Article 12, Section 14 of the constitution of New Mexico;

(2) a county, pursuant to Article 10, Section 9 of the constitution of New Mexico;

(3) a commission-manager municipality, pursuant to Section 3-14-16 NMSA 1978; and

(4) a home rule municipality, if the charter of the home rule municipality provides for recall of elective officers and notwithstanding any election provisions or procedures in the laws of the municipality that may conflict with the Recall Act; provided that if the recall procedures of a home rule municipality provide greater due process than the Recall Act, the recall procedures of the home rule municipality shall be utilized in place of the due process procedures of the Recall Act.

B. Recall of elected officials of the local jurisdictions listed in Subsection A of this section is subject to the following limitations:

(1) the cited grounds for recall shall be based upon acts or failures to act constituting malfeasance in office, misfeasance in office or violation of oath of office occurring during the current term of the named official sought to be recalled;

(2) no petition for recall of a named official shall be submitted more than once during the same term of office to which the official is elected; and

(3) an election to recall a named official shall not be conducted:

(a) later than one hundred eighty days from the end of the term for the office for which the recall of a named official is sought, in the case of any office subject to recall; and

(b) after May 1 in the calendar year in which an election is to be held for the office for which the recall of a named official is sought, in the case of a county official who is a candidate for reelection.

History: 1953 Comp., § 77-4A-4, enacted by Laws 1977, ch. 308, § 4; 1978 Comp., §22-7-4, recompiled and amended as § 1-25-3 by Laws 2019, ch. 212, § 161.

Recompilations. — Laws 2019, ch. 212, § 161 recompiled and amended former 22-7-4 NMSA 1978 as 1-25-3 NMSA 1978, effective April 3, 2019.

The 2019 amendment, effective April 3, 2019, completely rewrote the section; in the section heading, deleted "Members" and added "Recall; elected officials" and added "limitations"; deleted "Any elected member of the local school board of any school district may be recalled as provided in the Local School Board Member Recall Act" and added Subsections A and B.