Section 60-5A-1 - Elections for local option. - New Mexico Statutes

60-5A-1. Elections for local option.

Any municipality containing over five thousand population according to the latest United States census, whether the county in which that municipality is situated has adopted the local option provisions of the Liquor Control Act [60-3A-1 NMSA 1978] or any former act or not, or any county in the state may adopt local option in the county or municipality upon the following terms and conditions:   

A.     at any time after the effective date of the Liquor Control Act, the registered qualified electors of any proposed local option district may petition the governing body by filing one or more petitions in the appropriate office to hold an election for the purpose of determining whether the county or municipality shall adopt the local option provisions of the Liquor Control Act. If the aggregate of the signatures of such elector on all the petitions equals or exceeds five percent of the number of registered voters of the district, the governing body shall call an election within seventy-five days of the verification of the petition. The date of the filing of the petition shall be the date of the filing of the last petition which brings the number of signatures up to the required five percent; provided, however, that the governing body shall refuse to recognize the petition if more than three months have elapsed between the date of the first signature and the filing of the last petition necessary to bring the number of signatures on the petition up to five percent;   

B.     the election shall be called, conducted, counted and canvassed substantially in the manner provided by law for general elections within the county or special municipal elections within the municipality, except as otherwise provided in this section;   

C.     the votes at the election shall be counted, returned and canvassed as provided for in the case of general elections within the county or special municipal elections within the municipality;   

D.     except as otherwise provided in this section, contests, recounts and rechecks shall be permitted as provided for in the case of candidates for county office in general elections or as provided for in the case of special municipal elections within the municipality. Applications for contests, recounts or rechecks may be filed by any person who voted in the election, and service shall be made upon the county clerk or municipal clerk as the case may be;   

E.     if a majority of all the votes cast at the election are cast in favor of the sale, service or public consumption of alcoholic beverages in the county or municipality, the chairman of the governing body shall declare by order entered upon the records of the county or municipality that the county or municipality has adopted the local option provisions of the Liquor Control Act and shall notify the department of such results;   

F.     no election held pursuant to this section shall be held within forty-two days of any primary, general, municipal or school district election. If, within sixty days from the verification of any petition as provided in Subsection A of this section, a primary, general, municipal or school election is held, the governing body may call an election for a day not less than sixty days after the primary, general, municipal or school election;   

G.     if an election is held under the provisions of the Liquor Control Act [60-3A-1 NMSA 1978] in any county which contains within its limits any municipality of more than five thousand persons according to the last United States census, it is not necessary for the registered qualified electors in the municipality to file a separate petition asking for a separate or different vote on the question of adopting the local option provisions of the Liquor Control Act by the municipality. The election in the county shall be conducted so as to separate the votes in the municipality from those in the remaining parts of the county. If a majority of the voters in the county, including the voters in the municipality, vote against the sale, service or public consumption of alcoholic beverages in the county, the county shall not adopt the local option provisions of the Liquor Control Act; but if a majority of the votes in the municipality are in favor of the sale, service or public consumption of alcoholic beverages, the municipality shall have adopted the local option provisions of the Liquor Control Act. Nothing contained in this subsection shall prevent any municipality from having a separate election under the terms of this section;   

H.     any county or municipality composing a local option district under the provisions of the Liquor Control Act or any former act may vote to discontinue the sale, service or public consumption of alcoholic beverages in the local option district; the discontinuance shall become effective on the ninetieth day after the local option election is held; and   

I.     nothing in this section shall invalidate any local option election held pursuant to any former act prior to July 1, 1981.