The Charter Review Commission was appointed in 2005 under a law that calls for review of Santa Fe’s city charter at least every 10 years. Among its recommendations — approved by the City Council for a citywide vote during the Municipal Election — are the following changes:

Amendments 1, 2 and 3, Referendum, Initiative and Recall: To extend the time period for collection petitions from 60 to 90 days and reducing the number of petitions from 20 percent of registered voters to a third of the number of those voting in the last municipal election. The effect of the these changes would be to reduce the number of signatures required by about 50 percent.

Amendment 4, Public Financing of Campaigns: To require the City Council in two years to adopt a system which would “provide meaningful public financing of election
campaigns for all municipal elected officials.”

Amendment 5, Ranked Choice Voting: Beginning with the 2010 municipal election, the voting system would allow voters to rank in order of their preference the candidates for each office. If no one candidate receives a majority of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes would be eliminated and votes retallied by counting a vote from each ballot for the highest-ranked candidate who has not been eliminated.

Amendment 6, Powers and Duties of the Mayor: Change the voting power of the mayor to allow a vote when his or her vote would provide the necessary number of votes for a measure to pass, a change from current rules that only allow
the mayor to vote in the case of a tie.

Amendment 7, Municipal Judge: Require all municipal judge candidates to be lawyers and have a membership with the New Mexico state bar.