A. Declarations of independent candidacy and nominating petitions shall be filed with the proper filing officer between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on the twenty-third day following the primary election of each even-numbered year and between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on the fifty-sixth day preceding any United States representative special election.

B. Declarations of independent candidacy and nominating petitions for the office of president of the United States shall be filed with the proper filing officer between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on the twenty-third day following the primary election.

History: 1953 Comp., § 3-8-27.8, enacted by Laws 1977, ch. 322, § 8; 1981, ch. 147, § 8; 1989, ch. 392, § 19; 2005, ch. 270, § 55; 2011, ch. 137, § 65; 2014, ch. 40, § 8; 2014, ch. 81, § 8.

The 2014 amendment, effective March 12, 2014, provided for a standardized filing date; in Subsection A, after the first instance of "5:00 p.m. on the", deleted "twenty-first" and added "twenty-third"; and in Subsection B, after "5:00 p.m. on the", deleted "twenty-first" and added "twenty-third".

Laws 2014, ch. 40, § 8, effective March 7, 2014, and Laws 2014, ch. 81, § 8, March 12, 2014, enacted identical amendments to this section. The section was set out as amended by Laws 2014, ch. 81, § 8. See 12-1-8 NMSA 1978.

The 2011 amendment, effective July 1, 2011, required declarations to be filed on the twenty-first day following a primary election.

The 2005 amendment, effective July 1, 2005, in Subsection A, changed the date for filing declarations of independent candidacy and nominating petitions from the second Tuesday of July to the day following the primary election; and in Subsection B, changed the date for filing declarations of independent candidacy and nominating petitions from the fifty-sixth day prior to the general election to the day following the primary election.

This section invidiously discriminates against independent presidential candidates, as distinguished from partisan candidates. Anderson v. Hooper, 498 F. Supp. 905 (D.N.M. 1980)(decided prior to 1981 amendment).

For person to qualify as independent candidate for office other than president in the general election, his affidavit of registration on file with the county clerk must show that since January 1, of that year (now, since the date of issuance of governor's proclamation for primary election), he has declined to designate a party affiliation. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-26.