A. The board of county commissioners shall thereupon cause notice, embodying the orders in substance, signed by the chairman of the board of county commissioners and the clerk of the board, to be issued and published, giving public notice of the election, the time and place thereof and of the matters submitted to the vote of the electors. The notice and order shall be published once each week for four consecutive weeks prior to the election in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which there are any lands proposed to be embraced in the district. At the election or elections held under the provisions of this act, the following persons shall be deemed qualified electors, and none others:

(1) all resident freeholders who have reached the age of majority and who are owners of two acres or more of agricultural land within the district, or of evidence of title to such lands, or a purchaser under contract for the purchase of such lands from the state and who are citizens of the United States;

(2) all resident entrymen of public lands within the district who have reached the age of majority and who are citizens of the United States; and

(3) a corporation organized under the laws of the state of New Mexico and owning two acres or more of agricultural land within the district shall be entitled to one vote which shall be exercised by the president of the corporation or the person designated by the board of directors.

B. Insofar as applicable the general election laws of the state, except requirements for registration, and except as in this act otherwise provided, shall govern all elections under this act. The ballots to be used and cast at the election for the formation of the district shall be substantially as follows: "Irrigation District .......... Yes," and "Irrigation District ........... No," or words equivalent thereto. Each elector may vote for one director from each division and shall indicate his vote by placing a marginal cross upon the ballot for or against any question submitted and opposite thereto at any election held under this act. At the election for the formation of any irrigation district and at any other election for directors at which other questions are simultaneously submitted, separate ballots for the election of directors shall be used. In such event the separate ballots shall be substantially as follows:

"FOR DIRECTORS FOR ............ DISTRICT" (inserting name of district)

"For Director from Division No. 1.

"

(the name of the person voted for to be inserted by the voter)

"For Director from Division No. 2.

"

(the name of the person voted for to be inserted by the voter)

and serially thereafter to the number of directors to be chosen.

C. At all elections for directors, the persons receiving a plurality of the votes cast by qualified electors for directors from the several divisions, respectively, shall be declared elected. At any election held for the formation of an irrigation district under the provisions of this act or at any election held by any such district after its formation for the purpose of voting upon a proposition to issue bonds, or to enter into any contract creating any indebtedness in an amount equivalent in the aggregate to more than one dollar ($1.00) per acre upon all district lands, or to create any indebtedness in excess of such amount, no such district shall be formed and no such proposition shall be deemed to be authorized or approved unless two-thirds of the votes cast by qualified electors at such election shall be in favor thereof.

D. At any election for the formation of an irrigation district or for the purpose of voting upon a proposition involving the issuance of bonds, or the contracting or creating of an indebtedness in excess of the amount last hereinabove prescribed, voting by mail shall be permissible. Any qualified elector, as defined by this section, desiring to vote by mail may do so by preparing his ballot in the manner prescribed by this act, affixing his signature thereto and mailing the same in a sealed envelope postpaid to the secretary of the district, or he may deliver or cause to be delivered the envelope containing his ballot to the secretary. The ballot may be thus prepared, signed and mailed or delivered at any time after the commencement of the publication of notice of the election and shall be mailed and delivered prior to the time fixed by law for the closing of the polls. All such ballots shall be safely kept by the secretary of the district until the time prescribed by law for the canvassing of the returns of such elections, when they shall be delivered to the canvassing board, by whom they shall be counted in like manner and at the same time as votes cast at the polling places designated for any such election. At the time of delivery of such ballots to the canvassing board, the secretary shall make and subscribe to an affidavit setting forth the number of ballots so received, that same were duly received within the time herein fixed, that the same are all of the ballots so received, and that they are in the same condition as when received.

E. Thirty days prior to any election under this act the board of directors shall cause to be printed a sufficient number of ballots for the purpose of the election, and within five days prior to the election, shall cause a sufficient number of ballots to be delivered to one of the election judges of each division or precinct. Provided, that at all times during the period of thirty days there shall be in the hands of the secretary of the district a sufficient number of ballots for distribution among qualified electors desiring to vote by mail at elections wherein such voting is authorized.

F. In any election for the formation of an irrigation district prior to the designation and qualification of a secretary, ballots, when cast by mail or sealed and delivered as provided in this section, shall be delivered to the county clerk of the county in which is situate the major portion of the lands within the proposed district, who shall be regarded as ex-officio secretary of the district until the designation and qualification of a secretary as provided in this act.

G. Any person residing within any county in which any portion of an irrigated [irrigation] district shall lie, and who is the owner of two acres or more of agricultural lands within the limits of the district, shall, for the purpose of this act, be considered a resident freeholder.

H. Not less than thirty days before any election, any twenty or more electors in the district, or any distinctly general farmers' nonprofit, cooperative organization or association of the district, may file with the board of directors a petition requesting that certain persons specified in the petition be placed on the ballots as candidates for the office or offices named in the petition. The names proposed by the various petitions so filed, and no others, shall be printed on the ballots, but there shall be sufficient blank spaces left in which electors may write other names if they so desire. The petitions shall be preserved in the office of the secretary of the district.

History: Laws 1919, ch. 20, § 6; 1921, ch. 39, § 1; C.S. 1929, § 73-106; 1941 Comp., § 77-2206; 1953 Comp., § 75-23-6; Laws 1973, ch. 138, § 32; 1981, ch. 312, § 1.

Compiler's notes. — For the meaning of the term "this act", see compiler's notes to 73-10-1 NMSA 1978.

Cross references. — For definition of resident freeholder, see 73-10-7 NMSA 1978.

For Election Code, see Chapter 1 NMSA 1978.

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

For age of majority, see 28-6-1 NMSA 1978.

The 1981 amendment, in Subsection A, deleted "and" at the end of Paragraph (1), added "and" at the end of Paragraph (2) and added Paragraph (3).

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 45 Am. Jur. 2d Irrigation § 61.

94 C.J.S. Waters § 320.