69.12 - OFFICERS ELECTED TO FILL VACANCIES -- TENURE.

        69.12  OFFICERS ELECTED TO FILL VACANCIES -- TENURE.

         When a vacancy occurs in any nonpartisan elective office of a
      political subdivision of this state, and the statutes governing the
      office in which the vacancy occurs require that it be filled by
      election or are silent as to the method of filling the vacancy, it
      shall be filled pursuant to this section.  As used in this section,
      "pending election" means any election at which there will be on
      the ballot either the office in which the vacancy exists, or any
      other office to be filled or any public question to be decided by the
      voters of the same political subdivision in which the vacancy exists.

         1.  If the unexpired term in which the vacancy occurs has more
      than seventy days to run after the date of the next pending election,
      the vacancy shall be filled in accordance with this subsection. The
      fact that absentee ballots were distributed or voted before the
      vacancy occurred or was declared shall not invalidate the election.
         a.  A vacancy shall be filled at the next pending election if
      it occurs:
         (1)  Seventy-four or more days before the election, if it is a
      general election.
         (2)  Fifty-two or more days before the election, if it is a
      regularly scheduled or special city election.  However, for those
      cities which may be required to hold a primary election, the vacancy
      shall be filled at the next pending election if it occurs
      seventy-three or more days before a regularly scheduled city election
      or fifty-nine or more days before a special city election.
         (3)  Forty-five or more days before the election, if it is a
      regularly scheduled school election.
         (4)  Sixty or more days before the election, if it is a special
      election.
         b.  Nomination papers on behalf of candidates for a vacant
      office to be filled pursuant to paragraph "a" of this subsection
      shall be filed, in the form and manner prescribed by applicable law,
      by 5:00 p.m. on:
         (1)  The final filing date for candidates filing with the state
      commissioner or commissioner, as the case may be, for a general
      election.
         (2)  The candidate filing deadline specified in section 376.4 for
      the regular city election or the filing deadline specified in section
      372.13, subsection 2, for a special city election.
         (3)  The fortieth day before a regularly scheduled school
      election.
         (4)  The twenty-fifth day before a special election.
         c.  A vacancy which occurs at a time when paragraph "a" of
      this subsection does not permit it to be filled at the next pending
      election shall be filled by appointment as provided by law until the
      succeeding pending election.
         2.  When the unexpired term of office in which the vacancy occurs
      will expire within seventy days after the date of the next pending
      election, or after the date of a preceding election in which that
      office was on the ballot, the person elected to the office for the
      succeeding term shall also be deemed elected to fill the remainder of
      the unexpired term. If the vacancy is on a multimember body to which
      more than one nonincumbent is elected for the succeeding term, the
      nonincumbent who received the most votes shall be deemed elected to
      fill the remainder of the unexpired term.  A person so elected to
      fill an unexpired term shall qualify within the time required by
      sections 63.3 and 63.8. Unless other requirements are imposed by law,
      qualification for the unexpired term shall also constitute
      qualification for the full term to which the person was elected.  
         Section History: Early Form
         [C51, § 431--435; R60, § 672, 1083, 1101; C73, § 513, 530, 789,
      794, 795; C97, § 1277, 1278; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 1156, 1157;
      C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, § 69.12, 69.13; C73, 75, 77, 79, 81,
      S81, § 69.12; 81 Acts, ch 34, § 45] 
         Section History: Recent Form
         87 Acts, ch 221, § 31; 89 Acts, ch 136, § 59--61; 2002 Acts, ch
      1134, §78, 79, 115; 2008 Acts, ch 1115, §27, 28, 71
         Referred to in § 69.11, 69.14A, 161A.5, 230A.6, 260C.11, 277.30,
      279.6, 331.322, 347A.1, 358.9, 358C.10, 372.13