41-1202

41-1202. Vacancy in legislature; precinct
committeemen; appointment; definition

A. If a vacancy occurs in the legislature and the vacant seat was represented by a
political party that is organized pursuant to title 16, chapter 5, article 2 and that has
at least thirty elected committeemen who are from precincts that are in the legislative
district and that are in the county in which the vacancy occurred, the following apply:

1. The secretary of state shall notify the state party chairman of the appropriate
political party of the vacancy. Within three business days after notification of the
vacancy by the secretary of state, the state party chairman of the appropriate political
party or the chairman's designee shall give written notice of the meeting to fill the
vacancy to all elected precinct committeemen of the appropriate political party from
precincts that are in the legislative district and that are in the county in which the
vacancy occurred.

2. Those elected precinct committeemen shall nominate, within twenty-one days after
notification of the vacancy by the secretary of state if the legislature is not in
regular session or within five days if the legislature is in regular session and by a
majority vote, three qualified electors to fill the vacancy who meet the requirements for
service in the legislature and who belong to the same political party and reside at the
time of nomination in the same district and county as the person elected to or appointed
to the office immediately before the vacancy.

3. The meeting to fill the vacancy is subject to title 38, chapter 3, article 3.1,
and the state party chairman of the appropriate political party shall oversee the
nominations. Fifty per cent or more of the elected precinct committeemen of the district
who are in the legislative district and from the county in which the vacancy occurred, or
their proxies, meeting together constitutes a quorum for the purposes of this
subsection. A precinct committeeman may choose to permit the use of a proxy that:

(a) Is given by the precinct committeeman to another elected precinct committeeman
for the legislative district in which the vacancy occurred for use at the meeting to fill
the vacancy.

(b) Only is valid for the length of the meeting for which it was given.

(c) Is attested by a notary public or two witnesses.

4. The state party chairman of the appropriate political party shall forward the
names of the three persons named pursuant to paragraph 2 of this subsection to the board
of supervisors of the county of residence of the person elected or appointed to the
office immediately before the vacancy occurred. The board of supervisors shall appoint a
person from the three nominees submitted.

5. If the elected precinct committeemen of the appropriate political party fail to
fill the vacancy within twenty-one days if the legislature is not in regular session or
within five days if the legislature is in regular session, as provided in subsection A,
the state party chairman shall notify the board of supervisors of the appropriate county
and the board of supervisors shall fill the vacancy as provided in subsection B. The
time frame for appointing a citizens panel shall run from receipt of notification from
the state party chairman.

B. If the vacant legislative seat was represented by a political party that is
organized pursuant to title 16, chapter 5, article 2 and that has fewer than thirty
elected committeemen who are from precincts that are in the legislative district and that
are in the county in which the vacancy occurred or if the vacant legislative seat is not
represented by a political party that is organized pursuant to title 16, chapter 5,
article 2, the following apply:

1. The board of supervisors of the county of residence of the person elected to or
appointed to the office immediately before the vacancy shall appoint within three
business days after a vacancy occurs a citizens panel to submit to the board within seven
business days the names of three qualified electors who are members of the appropriate
political party and who are residents of the legislative district and county in which the
vacancy occurred to fill the vacancy. If the person elected to or appointed to the
office immediately before the vacancy was a registered independent, the qualified
electors shall be registered as independent.

2. Within five business days after receiving the list of names submitted by the
panel and by a majority vote of all of the supervisors sitting as a board, the board of
supervisors shall appoint one person from the list of names submitted by the panel to
fill the vacancy.

C. For the purposes of this section, "appropriate political party" means the same
political party of which the person who was elected to or appointed to the office was a
member immediately before the vacancy occurred.