Section 3-14-16 - Commission-manager; recall; election; ballot; effect; filling vacancies. - New Mexico Statutes

3-14-16. Commission-manager; recall; election; ballot; effect; filling vacancies.

A.     In any commission-manager municipality, any elective officer is subject to a recall election. Upon petition seeking the recall of an elective officer, signed by the qualified electors in a number more than twenty percent of the average number of voters who voted at the previous four regular municipal elections or more than twenty percent of the number of voters who voted at the previous regular municipal election, whichever is the greater, the commission shall call a special election unless the regular municipal election occurs within sixty days, in which case the qualified electors shall vote on the recall at the regular election.   

B.     In either case, there shall be a special ballot containing the name of the officer, the office he holds and the dates of the beginning and termination of his official term. Below the name of the officer shall be two phrases:   

"For the recall" and   

"Against the recall,"   

one below the other with a space after each for placing a cross where desired. If a majority of the votes cast favor recall and the number of votes cast favoring a recall are equal to or more than the number the officer received when he was a candidate for office, the office in question is declared vacant.   

C.     If an officer is recalled, he shall not be eligible for reelection until the term for which he was originally elected has expired.   

D.     If the recall election results in a failure to secure the votes necessary to recall, the officer in question shall not be subject again to recall until six months have elapsed from the date the previous recall election was held.   

E.     A vacancy created by a recall election shall be filled in the same manner as other vacancies on the commission are filled. If all commissioners are recalled at the same election, the municipal clerk, or if there is no municipal clerk, the district court shall within three days call an election as provided in Section 3-14-8 NMSA 1978, for the election of five commissioners.