N.M. Const. art. V, § 13
All district and municipal officers, county commissioners, school board members and municipal governing body members shall be residents of the political subdivision or district from which they are elected or for which they are appointed.
Counties, school districts and municipalities may be divided by their governing bodies into districts composed of populations as nearly equal as practicable for the purpose of electing the members of the respective governing bodies. (As amended November 8, 1960 and November 4, 1986.)
The 1986 amendment, which was proposed by H.J.R. No. 9 (Laws 1985) and adopted at the general election held on November 4, 1986, by a vote of 181,880 for and 84,964 against, repealed existing Section 13 relating to the residence of public officers and adopted a new Section 13.
The 1960 amendment, which was proposed by H.J.R. No. 8 (Laws 1959) and adopted at the general election held on November 8, 1960, with a vote of 58,477 for and 58,102 against, added the second and third sentences.
Cross references. — For qualifications for holding public office, see N.M. Const., art. VII, § 2.
For constitutional provision relating to municipal home rule, see N.M. Const., art. X, § 6.
For governor's power to fill vacancy in office of county commissioner, see N.M. Const., art. XX, § 4.
For county commission districts, see 4-38-3 NMSA 1978.
Purpose. — A reason for restricting candidates to residents of the district from which they seek election is to insure that each elected commissioner had knowledge of the problems and the needs of the district from which he is elected; it is properly within the spirit of such restriction, and will promote efficient filing administration, to require that a candidate be a resident of the district from which he seeks election at the time his name is certified. State ex rel. Rudolph v. Lujan, 85 N.M. 378, 1973-NMSC-077, 512 P.2d 951.
Determination of residency. — Doubt concerning residence is to be resolved in favor of permanency of residence in precinct wherein one casts his ballot. State ex rel. Magee v. Williams, 1953-NMSC-082, 57 N.M. 588, 261 P.2d 131.
Dual abodes. — There is no reason, why, within the meaning of this section and N.M. Const., art. VII, § 2, a person may not have more than one place to reside in. State ex rel. Magee v. Williams, 1953-NMSC-082, 57 N.M. 588, 261 P.2d 131.
Watershed district board members are district officers, subject to the residency requirement of the New Mexico constitution. — An interpretation of the 2025 amendments to the Watershed District Act that would eliminate the residency requirement for members of boards of directors would be unconstitutional. However, even though the act no longer incorporates a residency requirement, by reference to the Local Elections Act, the requirement set forth in Article V, Section 13 of the constitution of New Mexico still stands: soil and water conservation district supervisors can and must impose the residency requirement when selecting watershed district directors. 2026 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 26-05.
Restrictions on office-holding not to be increased. — The only restriction against the right of a citizen of the United States who is a resident of and a qualified voter within this state to hold any public office is that he must reside within the political subdivision for which he is elected or appointed. The legislature has no power to add restrictions upon the right to hold office beyond those provided in the constitution. Gibbany v. Ford, 1924-NMSC-038, 29 N.M. 621, 225 P. 577.
Laws 1919, ch. 111, § 3, requiring forfeiture of office of alderman when the holder moved beyond his ward, was void as it added restrictions to the right to hold public office in addition to those required by this section and N.M. Const., art. VII, § 2. Gibbany v. Ford, 1924-NMSC-038, 29 N.M. 621, 225 P. 577.
Wards of municipality. — Wards of a municipality are not "political subdivisions" within this section. Gibbany v. Ford, 1924-NMSC-038, 29 N.M. 621, 225 P. 577. But see, N.M. Const., art. X, § 6, relating to municipal home rule.
Irrigation districts are not "municipal corporations" within meaning of this section. Davy v. McNeill, 1925-NMSC-040, 31 N.M. 7, 240 P. 482.
District attorneys. — The constitution did not create a new class of officers to be known as "district officers," so the district attorney is a state, not a district, officer, and is precluded from receiving any compensation, fees, allowances or emoluments for or on account of his office, but is to have a salary appropriated for him. State ex rel. Ward v. Romero, 1912-NMSC-011, 17 N.M. 88, 125 P. 617.
Justices of the peace. — Justices of the peace (now magistrate courts) are precinct, not county, officers. Territory ex rel. Welter v. Witt, 1911-NMSC-040, 16 N.M. 335, 117 P. 860.
Justices of the peace. — Justices of the peace are recognized as precinct officers. 1965 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 65-33.
Filing. — In order for a candidate for county commission or state representative to qualify for those offices, he must file in the district where he resides. 1966 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 66-30.
"Residence". — The word "residence" means to be in residence, one's place of abode, as distinguished from a place where one is employed or an office or place devoted strictly to commercial enterprise. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 72-06.
"Residence," within the meaning of this section of the constitution, has traditionally been construed as synonymous with "domicile". 1956 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 56-6445.
Dual abodes. — Municipal judge, resident of the municipality for over 30 years, who votes and has property and business interests therein, is qualified to hold elective office in that municipality despite fact that he is employed fulltime at a bank some distance away, where he has an additional residence in which he on occasion remains overnight; any doubt is resolved in favor of the permanency of residence in the precinct wherein the judge casts his ballot. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-26.
Restrictions on office-holding not to be increased. — The legislature has no power to add restrictions upon the right to hold public office beyond those provided in the constitution. 1960 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 60-222.
Section refers only to officer's qualification at time of election. 1916 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 16-1781.
The removal of a county commissioner from the district from which he was elected to another part of the county did not create a vacancy in the office. 1912 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 12-955; 1915 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 15-1516; 1919 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 19-2154.
Interim appointee to be resident. — Person appointed to fill vacancy in office of county commissioner must, at the time of appointment, be a resident of the commissioner district from which his predecessor was elected. 1916 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 16-1764.
Town board of trustees. — Any citizen who is a resident and qualified elector of the state and a resident of a town may hold office as a member of its board of trustees. 1934 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 34-736.
Municipal judge must be resident of municipality which he serves. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-11.
Members of municipal housing authority must be residents of political subdivision for which they are appointed. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-138.
Members of municipal planning commission must be residents of municipality which they are serving and one city or town could not designate the planning commission of another city or town to serve as its planning commission. 1959 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 59-201.
Municipal manager is not public officer of municipality for purposes of this section. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-28.
Municipal clerk not officer of municipality. — The duties of a municipal clerk are essentially ministerial and do not involve the delegation of any of the sovereign power of the municipality; this necessary element to establish the position of municipal clerk as an officer of the municipality is not present. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-28.
Municipal attorney not public officer. — None of the indicia of public office attach to the position of municipal attorney. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-28.
Police officers are employees, and not public officers, of municipality. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-28.
Ward residency requirements invalid in municipalities not under home rule. — As to municipalities which do not operate under the constitutional home-rule provision, a ward residency requirement, no matter by whom imposed, would add an additional, and therefore unconstitutional, restriction on the right to hold public office. 1973 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 73-76.
The legislature may not constitutionally require each city commissioner to reside in the district he represents. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-23.
Districts in home-rule municipalities to be represented by residents. — When districting of a municipality has been accomplished pursuant to N.M. Const., art. X, § 6, each member of the governing body must be a resident of and elected by the registered qualified electors in his district. 1971 Op. Att'y Gen. Nos. 71-26, 71-118.
School district is a political subdivision of the state. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-16.
A county school district is a political subdivision and district as those terms are employed in this section. 1957 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 57-183.
School board member must be resident of school district which he represents. 1964 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 64-20.
It is a prerequisite for holding office as a member of a municipal school board that the individual municipal school board member be a bona fide resident of the municipal school district. 1964 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 64-06.
A person who lives outside a school district may not serve on that district's school board. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-16.
Patrons of rural school district who are not residents thereof cannot hold office of its school director nor vote in its school election. 1932 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 32-419.
School board election proposal unconstitutional. — House bill purporting to divide the municipal school district in class A counties into five school board districts using senatorial districts to draw the lines which would require that members of the board of education be residents of and be elected by the qualified electors of a separate school board district would violate this section. 1967 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 67-33.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 56 Am. Jur. 2d Municipal Corporations, Counties, and Other Political Subdivisions §§ 247, 248; 63A Am. Jur. 2d Public Officers and Employees §§ 60 to 62.
Validity of requirement that candidate or public officer have been resident of governmental unit for specified period, 65 A.L.R.3d 1048.
20 C.J.S. Counties § 99; 62 C.J.S. Municipal Corporations § 479; 67 C.J.S. Officers and Employees § 26.