A. Any voter filing any court action challenging a nominating petition provided for in the Primary Election Law [1-8-10 to 1-8-52 NMSA 1978] shall do so within ten days after the last day for filing the declaration of candidacy with which the nominating petition was filed. Within ten days after the filing of the action, the district court shall hear and render a decision on the matter. The decision shall be appealable only to the supreme court and notice of appeal shall be filed within five days after the decision of the district court. The supreme court shall hear and render a decision on the appeal forthwith.
B. For the purposes of an action challenging a nominating petition, each person filing a nominating petition under the Primary Election Law appoints the proper filing officer as his agent to receive service of process. Immediately upon receipt of process served upon the proper filing officer, the officer shall, by certified mail, return receipt requested, mail the process to the person.
History: 1953 Comp., § 3-8-24.6, enacted by Laws 1973, ch. 228, § 9; 1975, ch. 295, § 18; 1985, ch. 2, § 7; 1993, ch. 55, § 8.
ANNOTATIONSCross references. — For rule relating to contest of nomination in primary elections, see Rule 1-087 NMRA.
For appeal as of right, see Rule 12-201 NMRA.
For rule governing appeals of nominating petitions, see Rule 12-603 NMRA.
The 1993 amendment, effective November 15, 1993, added "with which the nominating petition was filed" at the end of the first sentence of Subsection A and made stylistic changes.
Request for expedited hearing. — Complaints challenging nominating petitions should be accompanied by a request for an expedited hearing, and the matter should immediately be called to the attention of the judge assigned to the case. Charley v. Johnson, 2010-NMSC-024, 148 N.M. 246, 233 P.3d 775.
Notice to the candidate of the proceeding. — Time is of the essence in a proceeding challenging a nominating petition, and plaintiff must notify the candidate of the action by serving the complaint on the candidate's statutory agent for service of process and by immediately delivering a copy of the complaint and notice of hearing to the candidate. Charley v. Johnson, 2010-NMSC-024, 148 N.M. 246, 233 P.3d 775.
Challenged signatures must be set forth in a single count. — Each signature challenged by the plaintiff must be set forth in a separate count in the complaint, and if the signature is challenged on multiple grounds, each of those grounds must be set forth in the count for that signature. Charley v. Johnson, 2010-NMSC-024, 148 N.M. 246, 233 P.3d 775.
Required procedure not followed. — Where plaintiffs challenged the sufficiency and validity of defendant's nominating petition for magistrate judge; plaintiffs neither filed a request for an expedited hearing when the complaint was filed nor obtained a setting within ten days of the filing of the complaint; the complaint did not state who conducted the search of the voter registration records; the complaint did not set forth each challenged signature and the multiple challenges to the signature as a separate count, but multiple signatures into a single count based on the type of challenge; plaintiffs did not attempt to deliver the complaint or a notice of hearing to defendant; and the county clerk testified summarily that the nominating petition had only eighteen valid signatures, but neither discussed each signature individually nor explained why the county clerk concluded that the remaining signatures were invalid, the district court erred by removing defendant's name from the ballot. Charley v. Johnson, 2010-NMSC-024, 148 N.M. 246, 233 P.3d 775.
Contest of primary election not governed by section. — After a primary election, the unsuccessful candidate or any other challenger has 30 days from date of issuance of the certificate of nomination, pursuant to 1-14-3 NMSA 1978, to properly contest the election; this section is not controlling. Thompson v. Robinson, 1984-NMSC-096, 101 N.M. 703, 688 P.2d 21.