A. Upon receipt of completed petitions, the county clerk shall stamp the petitions with the filing date. All completed petitions for the recall of one or more named officials shall be filed with the county clerk on the same day within ninety days from the date of initiation.

B. For each petition that is accompanied by the required affidavit pursuant to the Recall Act, the county clerk shall verify the signatures on the completed petitions within fifteen days and determine whether the verified signatures meet the required minimum number.

C. The minimum number of verified signatures required to validate a petition is thirty-three and one-third percent of the total number of voters who voted for all candidates for the elected position currently occupied by the named official at the last election where the official was elected.

D. Within five days of making a determination whether the verified signatures meet the required minimum number, the county clerk shall notify the petitioner and the named official in writing of the determination, and if the county clerk determines that sufficient signatures have been submitted, the clerk shall initiate procedures for a recall election as provided in the Local Election Act; provided that the order of the district court shall serve as the proclamation calling the recall election.

History: 1953 Comp., § 77-4A-9, enacted by Laws 1977, ch. 308, § 9; 1979, ch. 277, § 1; 1985, ch. 169, § 5; 1987, ch. 142, § 1; 1978 Comp., § 22-7-9, recompiled and amended as § 1-25-7 by Laws 2019, ch. 212, § 165.

Recompilations. — Laws 2019, ch. 212, § 165 recompiled and amended former 22-7-9 NMSA 1978 as 1-25-7 NMSA 1978, effective April 3, 2019.

The 2019 amendment, effective April 3, 2019, effective April 3, 2019, revised the duties of the county clerk in the recall process; in the section heading, added "Recall"; deleted Subsection A and redesignated former Subsections B and C as Subsections A and B, respectively; in Subsection A, after "petitions with the", added "filing" and after "date", deleted "of closure", and after "same day within", deleted "one hundred ten calendar" and added "ninety"; in Subsection B, added "For each petition that is accompanied by the required affidavit pursuant to the Recall Act", and after "petitions within", deleted "ten working" and added "fifteen"; and deleted former Subsections D through F and added new Subsections C and D.

Charges of multiple intentional violations of the Open Meetings Act, which permitted policy decisions concerning the respective roles of the superintendent and the school board without public participation, were a form of misconduct for which recall was provided. Do a Ana Cnty. Clerk v. Martinez, 2005-NMSC-037, 138 N.M. 575, 124 P.3d 210.

Exclusion of names on list by superintendent. — Superintendent (now county clerk) may exclude those signatures not listing a date, but his exclusion of signatures with names not "printed as registered" or with "city" not listed, as required by Section 22-7-6 NMSA 1978, was inconsistent with the purpose of Section 22-7-10D NMSA 1978 and was, therefore, improper. State ex rel. Citizens for Quality Educ. v. Gallagher, 1985-NMSC-030, 102 N.M. 516, 697 P.2d 935.

Name withdrawal petitions valid before final action on petition. — Where superintendent (now county clerk) received name withdrawal petitions after receiving clerk's certification of signatures, but before taking final action on petition, superintendent (now county clerk) properly refused to count names to those persons who submitted name withdrawal petitions. State ex rel. Citizens for Quality Educ. v. Gallagher, 1985-NMSC-030, 102 N.M. 516, 697 P.2d 935.