A. Whenever a petition signed by not less than two hundred qualified electors of any county in this state is presented to the board of county commissioners asking that a vote be taken on the question or proposition of building, remodeling or making additions to necessary public buildings or necessary public projects, setting forth in general terms the object of the petition and the amount of bonds asked to be voted for, the board of county commissioners of the county to which the petition is presented shall, within ten days after the presentation, call an election to be held within sixty days thereafter in the county. Except as provided in Chapter 4, Article 49 NMSA 1978, such elections shall be held and conducted pursuant to the provisions of the Local Election Act [Chapter 1, Article 22 NMSA 1978].

B. After the defeat of any proposition once voted for, a second special election upon any question or proposition under the provisions of Chapter 4, Article 49 NMSA 1978 shall not be held for a term of two years unless a petition requesting another election, containing the names of qualified electors of the county equal to ten percent of the votes cast for governor in the last preceding election and otherwise conforming to the requirements of this section, is presented to the board of county commissioners; provided, however, that in no event shall more than two elections upon any proposition or question under Chapter 4, Article 49 NMSA 1978 be held in any term of two years. A bond election as provided in this section may also be called by the board of county commissioners, without any petition, after the board has adopted a resolution calling such an election, which resolution shall set forth the object of the election and the amount of bonds to be issued.

History: Laws 1891, ch. 83, § 4; C.L. 1897, § 352; Code 1915, § 1159; C.S. 1929, § 33-3904; Laws 1937, ch. 52, § 1; 1941 Comp., § 15-4604; Laws 1947, ch. 20, § 3; 1951, ch. 83, § 3; 1953 Comp., § 15-49-7; Laws 1959, ch. 234, § 1; 1985, ch. 50, § 3; 2018, ch. 79, § 72.

Cross references. — For requirement of holding of elections generally, see 4-49-5 NMSA 1978.

For conduct of general elections, see 1-1-1 NMSA 1978 et seq.

For bond elections generally, see 6-15-23 NMSA 1978 et seq.

For publication of notice, see 14-11-1 NMSA 1978 et seq.

For bond elections, see 6-15-26 NMSA 1978.

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, provided that bond elections on the question or proposition of building, remodeling or making additions to necessary public buildings or necessary public projects shall be held and conducted pursuant to the provisions of the Local Election Act, and made technical and conforming changes; added subsection designation "A."; in Subsection A, after "to be voted for", deleted "it shall be the duty of", after "to which the petition", deleted "may be" and added "is", after "presented", added "shall", after "in the county.", deleted "The board shall give notice of the election by publication once a week for at least three consecutive weeks in any newspapers published in the county, which notices shall set forth the time and place of holding the election, the necessary public building or necessary public project proposed and which bonds are to be voted for.", and after "held and conducted", deleted "in the same manner as general elections, including recount and contest, and the board of county commissioners shall certify and declare on the records of the county the returns of the election" and added "pursuant to the provisions of the Local Election Act."; and added subsection designation "B.".

Requirements as to voting on multiple propositions. — Petition filed under this section, asking that a vote be taken upon two bond issues, designated separately, did not authorize submission by ballot as a joint proposition, and an election at which the ballot submitted a single proposition, for or against, "courthouse and jail bonds," was null and void. Dickinson v. Board of Comm'rs, 1929-NMSC-077, 34 N.M. 337, 281 P. 33, explained in White v. Bd. of Educ., 1938-NMSC-009, 42 N.M. 94, 75 P.2d 712.

Bond election after defeat at special election. — Board of county commissioners may, by resolution, and without petition, call for a bond election within two years after the same proposition has been defeated in a special election if the resolution calls for the bond election to be held at a general election. 1962 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 62-122.

Required publication of notice. — Publication of the notice of election for three consecutive weeks is required, though the election may be held the day following the last publication when notice of publication so declares. 1941 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 41-3755.

Postponement of election. — The board of county commissioners would not be justified in postponing an election on a bond issue for a juvenile detention home until the next primary election on the grounds of shortage of funds to conduct such an election at the present time. 1961 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 61-114.