Prospective candidates for city of Santa Fe elected positions who began collecting signatures to qualify were told Thursday they would have to restart the process due to an issue with the nominating forms they received.

City Clerk Kristine Bustos-Mihelcic

said the forms provided at the beginning of the week were not fully approved by the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office and did not align with the Local Election Act, passed in 2018 to put the many local elections in communities statewide on one ballot in November of odd-numbered years.

Bustos-Mihelcic said she informed prospective candidates of the issue via email Thursday, which included a copy of the approved forms. Anyone who is scheduled to pick up forms next week will have the new forms, she added.

“After discussion with the Secretary of State’s Office and the Santa Fe County Clerk, we are all in agreement that the attached nominating petition form, which was approved today by the Secretary of State, needs to be used to collect nominating signatures for the Nov. 2, 2021 election,” the email read.

Some of the forms should have been changed during the previous election, Bustos-Mihelcic said. She added there was hope that the form would be approved, but the secretary of state decided the city should use the form the rest of the state uses.

”It’s really essential for the city of Santa Fe to align with the Local Election Act, and this is us coming into alignment,” Bustos-Mihelcic said. “Historically, things have been done differently.”

The silver lining is that candidates will receive additional time to collect signatures, Bustos-Mihelcic said, but an official deadline has not yet been approved.

Originally, candidates were given until July 2.

Santa Feans were allowed to begin picking up packets

Monday, which included nominating forms and paperwork to participate in the city’s public campaign finance program.

Eleven candidates either grabbed packets or were scheduled to grab packets as of Friday, according to information provided by Mihelcic-Bustos.

Anyone else who is interested in picking up forms can contact the City Cerk’s Office to schedule a pickup time at 505-955-6521 or email xivigil@santafenm.gov.