SB1674 - 562R

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 15-424, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE15-424. Election of governing board members; terms; reduction of membership; statement of contributions and expenditures

A. A regular election shall be held for each school district at the time and place, and in the manner, of general elections as provided in title 16.

B. Except as provided in subsection subsections C or d of this section and sections 15-429 and 15-430, the term of office for each member shall be four years from January 1 next following the member's election.

C. At the first general election held for a newly formed district, three members shall be elected. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall be elected to a four-year term, and the candidates having the second and third highest number of votes shall be elected to two-year terms. A district increasing its governing board to five members shall elect at the next general election members in the following manner:

1. If one of the previous three offices is to be filled, the three candidates receiving the highest, the second highest and the third highest number of votes shall be elected to four-year terms.

2. If two of the previous three offices are to be filled, the candidates receiving the highest, the second highest and the third highest number of votes shall be elected to four-year terms. The candidate receiving the fourth highest number of votes shall be elected to a two-year term. Thereafter, all such offices shall have four-year terms.

d. if a governing board election includes any UNEXPIRED vacant terms, the candidates RECEIVING the highest number of votes shall fill all full four-year terms and the candidates receiving the next highest number of votes shall fill the remainder of any unexpired vacant terms.

D. e. A member who is serving on a governing board for a district that reduces the number of its governing board members to three pursuant to section 15-425.01 shall continue to serve as a member of the governing board until expiration of the member's current term of office. A district that reduces the number of its governing board members to three pursuant to section 15-425.01 shall reduce the number of its members as follows:

1. If two of the previous five offices are expiring at the first general election held after the general election in which a district reduces the number of its governing board members to three pursuant to section 15-425.01:

(a) At the first general election held after the general election in which a district reduces the number of its governing board members to three pursuant to section 15-425.01, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall be elected to a four-year term.

(b) At the second general election held after the general election in which a district reduces the number of its governing board members to three pursuant to section 15-425.01, the candidates receiving the highest and second highest number of votes shall be elected to four-year terms.

2. If three of the previous five offices are expiring at the first general election held after the general election in which a district reduces the number of its governing board members to three pursuant to section 15-425.01, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall be elected to a four-year term at the election.

E. f. If only one person files a nominating petition or nomination paper for a write-in candidate for an election to fill a district office, the board of supervisors, not earlier than one hundred five days before the election, may cancel the election for the position and appoint the person who filed the nominating petition or nomination paper to fill the position. If no person files a nominating petition or nomination paper for an election to fill a district office, the board of supervisors, not earlier than one hundred five days before the election, may cancel the election for that office and that office is deemed vacant and shall be filled as provided in section 15-302. A person who is appointed pursuant to this subsection is fully vested with the powers and duties of the office as if elected to that office.

F. g. If two or more candidates receive an equal number of votes for the same office, and a higher number than any other candidate for that office, whether on the tally by the school election board or canvass of returns by the board of supervisors, or on recount by a court, the officer or board whose duty it is to declare the result shall determine by lot and in the presence of the candidates which candidate shall be declared elected.

G. h. The position of the names of candidates for each office shall be rotated so that each candidate occupies each position on the ballot an equal number of times, insofar as is possible, for each ballot style. For candidates seeking election to fill a vacancy on the governing board, the ballot shall be designated as provided in section 16-502.

H. i. This section does not require that a school election at which no member is to be elected be held on a general election day.

I. j. All candidates for the office of school district governing board member shall file with the county school superintendent a statement of contributions and expenditures as provided in section 16-926. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 16-314, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-314. Filing and form of nomination petitions; definition

A. Any person desiring to become a candidate at any election and to have the person's name printed on the official ballot shall file, not less than one hundred twenty nor more than one hundred fifty days before the primary election and with the same officer as provided by section 16-311, a nomination petition in addition to the nomination paper required.

B. For the purposes of this title, "nomination petition" means the form or forms used for obtaining the required number of signatures of qualified electors, which is circulated by or on behalf of the person wishing to become a candidate for a political office.

C. Nomination petitions shall be captioned "partisan nomination petition" or "nonpartisan nomination petition", followed by the language of the petition in substantially the following form, except that if the candidate does not have an actual residence address, the candidate may use a description of place of residence and post office address, or, if the candidate's actual residence address is protected pursuant to section 16-153, a post office box or private mailbox address in the candidate's political division or district from which the nomination is sought is sufficient:

Partisan Nomination Petition

I, the undersigned, a qualified elector of the county of ______________, state of Arizona, and of (here name political division or district from which the nomination is sought) and a member of the _______________ party or a person who is registered as no party preference or independent as the party preference or who is registered with a political party that is not qualified for representation on the ballot, hereby nominate ___________ who resides at _____________ in the county of ____________ for the party nomination for the office of _______________ to be voted at the primary election to be held _______________ as representing the principles of such party, and I hereby declare that I am qualified to vote for this office and that I have not signed, and will not sign, any nomination petition for more persons than the number of candidates necessary to fill such office at the next ensuing election. I further declare that if I choose to use a post office box address on this petition, my residence address has not changed since I last reported it to the county recorder for purposes of updating my voter registration file.

Nonpartisan Nomination Petition

I, the undersigned, a qualified elector of the county of _______________, state of Arizona, and of (here name political division or district from which the nomination is sought) hereby nominate _______________ who resides at _______________ in the county of _______________ for the office of ______________ to be voted at the _______________ election to be held _______________, and hereby declare that I am qualified to vote for this office and that I have not signed and will not sign any nomination petitions for more persons than the number of candidates necessary to fill such office at the next ensuing election. I further declare that if I choose to use a post office box address on this petition, my residence address has not changed since I last reported it to the county recorder for purposes of updating my voter registration file.

D. The nomination petition of a person seeking to fill an unexpired vacant term for any public office, except for a general school DISTRICT governing board election, shall designate the expiration date of the term following the name of the office being sought. END_STATUTE