Opinion No. 43-4383
September 25, 1943
TO: Mr. Theodore Rozzell, County Assessor, Clovis, New Mexico
We are in receipt of your letter of September 22, 1943, in which you ask whether or not a candidate running for a county office has to own and pay tax on real and personal property in the county where he is a candidate.
Your attention is directed to Article 7, Section 2 of the State Constitution, which provides that a citizen of the United States who is a legal resident of the State and is a qualified elector therein shall be qualified to hold any public office except as otherwise provided in the Constitution.
In Gibbany v. Ford, 29 N.M. 621, the Supreme Court held that no additional requirements than those imposed by the Constitution could be imposed on the right of a citizen to hold office. Thus, since the property requirement is not listed as one of the qualifications, any person otherwise qualified may hold a county office.
By ROBERT W. WARD,
Assistant Attorney General