Bill 4050

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               4050
Ratification Number:       728
Act Number                 741
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                   Manner of election of board members
                           revised

(A741, R728, H4050)

AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT BEGINNING IN 1992 THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF SUMTER SCHOOL DISTRICT 17 MUST BE ELECTED IN NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS FROM SEVEN SINGLE-MEMBER ELECTION DISTRICTS AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE TERMS AND MANNER OF ELECTION OF THESE MEMBERS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Manner of election of board members revised

SECTION 1. Beginning with the 1992 election, the Board of School Trustees of Sumter County School District 17 consists of seven members who must be elected in nonpartisan elections to be held in the manner hereinafter provided. One member of the board must be a resident of and elected from each of the seven defined single-member election districts established in Section 2. The members of the board shall elect a chairman and other officers they consider necessary to serve terms of one year each in these capacities. Any member may be reelected to an office of the board. The seven members of the board must be elected to the board in a nonpartisan election to be conducted at the same time as the 1992 general election for terms of office of four years each; however, the four members elected in 1992 who receive the highest number of the votes cast shall serve initial terms of four years each, and the other three members elected in 1992 shall serve initial terms of two years each. Their successors must be elected in a nonpartisan election to be conducted at the same time as the general election four or two years thereafter, respectively, as the case may be, for terms of four years each. All members of the board shall serve until their successors are elected and qualify. In the event of a vacancy on the board occurring for any reason other than expiration of a term, the board shall call a special election to fill the unexpired term, so long as the vacancy does not occur within ten months of a regular trustee election. In this case, the vacancy must be filled for the unexpired term or for a full term as appropriate at the next regular election.

Each member of the board must be elected by the qualified electors of that district. All persons desiring to qualify as a candidate shall file written notice of candidacy with the county election commission at least sixty days before the date set for the election but not earlier than ninety days before the election. This notice of candidacy must be a sworn statement and must include the candidate's name, age, residence address, voting precinct, period of residence in the election district from which election is sought, and other information as the county election commission requires.

The county commissioners of election shall conduct and supervise the elections for members of the board in the manner governed by the election laws of this State, mutatis mutandis. The commissioners shall prepare the necessary ballots, appoint managers for the voting precincts, and do all things necessary to carry out the elections, including the counting of ballots and declaring the results. The commissioners shall advertise the date of the election ninety days preceding the election in a newspaper of general circulation published in the district and shall publish a second notice thirty days before the election. The costs of the election must be borne by the school district.

The candidate receiving the highest number of the votes in each district in the election must be declared elected.

The members of the board elected in these nonpartisan elections shall take office one week following certification of their election as provided in Section 59-19-315 of the 1976 Code.

The current members of the board shall continue to be selected and serve as now provided by law until the members elected in the 1992 election qualify and take office, at which time the then current terms of the present members of the board shall expire.

Election districts

SECTION 2. The seven defined single-member election districts are as follows:

District and Population Variance

Composition of District

District 1

Sumter City,

Tract 8,

BG 1 0

BG 2 2,130

BG 3 2,222

Tract 9

BG 1 707

Mulberry CDP,

Tract 7,

BG 2 597

BG 3 235

Tract 8,

BG 1 856

6,747 +4.17%

District 2

South Sumter CDP,

Tract 11,

BG 4 207

Tract 16,

BG 1 701

BG 2 475

BG 3 1,263

BG 4 712

BG 5 1,598

Sumter Div.,

Tract 11,

BG 5 848

BG 6 258

Sumter Southeast Div.,

Tract 6,

BG 1 141

6,203 -4.23%

District 3

Sumter City,

Tract 10,

BG 2 601

Tract 11,

BG 2 18

BG 3 318

BG 4 68

BG 5 519

Tract 12

BG 1 68

BG 2 56

BG 3 169

Tract 13

BG 3 747

Tract 14

BG 1 102

Tract 15

BG 1 624

BG 2 864

South Sumter CDP,

Tract 13,

BG 3 105

Tract 14,

BG 1 329

BG 2 158

Tract 15,

BG 1 126

BG 2 818

BG 3 570

6,260 -3.35%

District 4

Sumter City,

Tract 17.01,

BG 2 513

Tract 17.02,

BG 1 180

Millwood CDP,

Tract 17.01,

BG 2 1,439

Sumter Southwest CDP,

Tract 17.02,

BG 1 4,075

6,207 -4.17%

District 5

Sumter City,

Tract 7,

BG 3 1,502

BG 4 1,681

Tract 10,

BG 1 596

East Sumter CDP,

Tract 11,

BG 1 830

BG 2 960

Sumter Div.,

Tract 7,

BG 1 695

BG 2 191

BG 3 29

BG 4 36

Tract 11,

BG 1 278

ED 450 16

6,814 +5.20%

District 6

Sumter City,

Tract 9,

BG 2 1,114

BG 3 739

BG 8 210

Tract 10,

BG 3 1,499

BG 4 928

Tract 13,

BG 1 1,503

BG 2 765

Sumter Div.,

Tract 9,

BG 3 0

6,758 +4.34%

District 7

Sumter City,

Tract 9,

BG 4 2,892

BG 5 581

BG 6 586

BG 7 0

Tract 17.01,

BG 1 388

Shaw-Horatio Div.,

Tract 18.02,

BG 1 87

Sumter North Div.,

Tract 4,

BG 2 36

Sumter Div.,

Tract 9,

BG 4 580

BG 5 285

BG 6 0

BG 7 71

Tract 17.01,

BG 1 515

Tract 17.02,

BG 1 332

6,353 -1.91%

Vacancy upon moving residency

SECTION 3. After the members elected in 1992 qualify and take office, if a member of the board moves his residence from the single-member election district from which he was elected, his office becomes vacant automatically.

Time effective

SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

Approved the 12th day of June, 1990.