§46 | ELECTION AND TERMS OF OFFICE OF SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES; VACANCIES IN OFFICE
(a) Senators and representativesshall be elected by the qualified electors on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November unless the Legislature shall change the time of holding elections and in every fourth year thereafter. The terms of office of the senators and representativesshall commence on the day after the general election at which they are elected, and expire on the day after the general election held in the fourth year after their election, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution. At the general election in the year nineteen hundred and two all the representatives, together with the senators for the even numbered districts and for the thirty-fifth district, shall be elected. The terms of those senators who represent the odd numbered districts under the law in force prior to the ratification of this Constitution, are hereby extended until the day after the general election in the year nineteen hundred and six; and until the expiration of his or her term as hereinbefore extended, each such senator shall represent the district established by this Constitution, bearing the number corresponding with that for which he or she was elected. In the year nineteen hundred and six, and in every fourth year thereafter, all the senators and representativesshall be elected.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (c), when a vacancy occurs in either house of the Legislature, the Governor shallissue a writ of election to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term. However, if the Secretary of State determines that a legally qualified candidate for election to the vacancy is unopposed when the last date for filing certificates of nomination has passed, the election shall not be held. The Secretary of State shallissue a certificate of election to the candidate, the same as if an election had been held, and the certificate shall be accepted by the house in which the vacancy occurred as evidence of the unopposed candidate's right to fill the position created by the vacancy. In the event an election is held, all the costs and expenses incurred thereby shall be paid out of any funds in the State Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
(c) When a vacancy occurs in either house of the Legislature on or after October 1 of the third year of a quadrennium, the seat shall remain vacant until a successor is elected at the next succeeding general election.
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