(A) The City Clerk shall accept a petition for filing only if the City Clerk has approved the form of the petition prior to circulation of the petition.
(B) Persons submitting petitions in accordance with Article II, Section 4, of the City Charter shall collect all signatures on such petitions during the following periods in the year of the election:
(1) For Mayoral candidates, starting at 8:00 a.m. 199 days before the election, and ending at 5:00 p.m. 136 days before the election; and
(2) For Council candidates, starting at 8:00 a.m. 155 days before the election, and ending at 5:00 p.m. 120 days before the election.
(C) Petitions gathered pursuant to the provisions of Subsection (B) shall be submitted to the City Clerk for verification every Tuesday by 12:00 p.m. during the petition gathering period.
(1) Petition signatures that have not been submitted to the City Clerk within the timeframes set in Subsection (B) shall be deemed invalid and shall not be considered in any determination of candidate qualification.
(D) Persons submitting petitions in accordance with Article III, Section 1 or 3 of the City Charter, or Article VI of the City Charter, shall do so within the 60-day limitation; provided, that parts of the petition may be submitted in three stages:
(1) The first part not more than 20 days after the filing of the notice of intent to circulate the petition;
(2) The second part not more than 40 days after the filing of the notice of intent to circulate the petition; and
(3) The third and final part of the petition shall be filed no later than 60 days after the filing of the notice of intent to circulate the petition.
(E) Persons submitting petitions in accordance with Article III, Section 2 of the City Charter, shall do so within the 35-day limitation; provided, that parts of the petition shall be submitted in two stages:
(1) The first part not more than 15 days after the filing of the notice of intent to circulate a petition; and
(2) The second and final part of the petition shall be filed no later than 35 days after the filing of the notice of intent to circulate the petition.
(F) All such petitions shall be filed in the City Clerk's office during the regular business hours of that office as determined by Rule promulgated by the City Clerk.
(G) All candidates who submitted a petition in accordance with Section 4, Article II of the City Charter shall file the results of the City Clerk's petition signature verification and their Declaration of Candidacy with the proper filing officer on the prescribed filing day in accordance with Section 1-22-3.2(D) NMSA 1978 or Section 1-22-7 NMSA 1978.
(1) Publicly Financed Candidates for Mayor shall submit their petitions and Declaration of Candidacy to the City Clerk 122 days before the election in accordance with Section 1-22-3.2(D) NMSA 1978.
(2) Publicly Financed Candidates for City Council shall submit their petitions and Declaration of Candidacy to the City Clerk 106 days before the election in accordance with Section 1-22-3.2(D) NMSA 1978.
(3) Privately Financed Candidates for Mayor and City Council shall submit their petitions and Declaration of Candidacy to the County Clerk 70 days before the election in accordance with Section 1-22-7 NMSA 1978. The Candidate may store the original petitions In the City Clerk's Office vault until the above-specified filing date for privately financed candidates.
('74 Code, § 1-25-13) (Ord. 18- 1993; Am. Ord. 46-2008; Am. Ord. 3-2009; Am. Ord. 2019-019; Am. Ord. 2020-019; Am. Ord. 2020-028
; Am. Ord. 2022-041)