Except as otherwise provided by law, magistrates shall be nominated and elected at large within each magistrate district at the primary and general elections. In magistrate districts having more than one magistrate, the separate offices shall be designated by divisions and, in all appointments to fill vacancies and in all nominations and elections to these offices, candidates shall be designated as appointed or elected to the office of magistrate of a specific division. Magistrates shall be nominated and elected in the 1968 primary and general elections to serve terms from January 1, 1969 until December 31, 1970. Subsequent terms shall be for four years.
NMS § 35-1-3