A. Members of the senate shall be elected for terms of four years.
B. If a vacancy occurs in the office of senator for any reason, the vacancy shall be filled as follows:
(1) for a senate district that is situated wholly within the exterior boundaries of a single county, the board of county commissioners of that county shall appoint the senator to fill the vacancy; and
(2) for a senate district situated within two or more counties:
(a) the board of county commissioners of each county in the senate district shall submit one name to the governor; and
(b) the governor shall appoint the senator to fill the vacancy from the list of names so submitted.
C. An appointment to fill a vacancy in the senate shall be for a term ending on December 31 after the next general election.
D. An appointment to fill a vacancy made before the general election of 2004 shall be made from the district as it was described in Laws 1991 (1st S.S.), Chapter 3, Sections 7 through 48. After the general election of 2004, a vacancy shall be filled by appointment from the district set out in the 2002 Senate Redistricting Act.
History: Laws 2002, ch. 98, § 4.
ANNOTATIONS
Effective dates. — Laws 2002, ch. 98 contained no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, was effective May 15, 2002, 90 days after adjournment of the legislature.
Compiler’s notes. — Laws 1991 (1st S.S.), Chapter 3, Sections 7 through 48, referred to in Subsection D, were formerly compiled as 2-8C-7 through 2-8C-48 NMSA 1978 and were repealed by Laws 2002, ch. 98, § 50, effective May 15, 2002. For provisions of these former sections, see the 2001 NMSA 1978 on NMOneSource.com.