This section sets out how board members are elected by eligible policemen and firefighters, how nominations and ballots are handled, and how ties, vacancies, and election records are managed.
(a) One member of the board shall be elected, from among their number, by the policemen who are eligible to participate in the fund; one member shall be elected, from among their number, by the firefighters who are eligible to participate in the fund. A separate election shall be held by each department on the second Tuesday in January, 1948, and on the second Tuesday in January of every third year thereafter. Neither the chief of the police department nor the chief of the fire department shall be entitled to vote in the elections. Elections shall be held at police headquarters for the police department and at Fire Station Number One for the fire department; they shall begin at nine o’clock in the forenoon and continue until six o’clock in the afternoon. Voting shall be by secret ballot. (b) The city clerk shall prepare the ballots, which shall be printed, typewritten, or mimeographed, and shall place thereon the names of those persons nominated as candidates and the name of any firefighter or policeman eligible to vote at the election who may request in writing that his or her name be placed on the ballots. Any three firefighters who are eligible to vote in the election may nominate, in writing, a candidate from the fire department; any three policemen who are eligible to vote in the election may nominate, in writing, a candidate from the police department. Nominations and requests from persons entitled to vote in the election that their own names be placed on the ballots, shall be filed with the city clerk not earlier than two weeks before the date of the election and not later than five o’clock in the afternoon of Thursday immediately preceding the election. (c) The candidate receiving the highest number of votes at the election shall be elected; he or she shall hold office for a term of three years, beginning on the Monday next following his or her election. The chief of the police department and one policeman selected by him or her, and the chief of the fire department and one firefighter selected by him or her, shall act as election officials in the election of their respective departments. On the day of the election, immediately after the polls are closed, the election officers shall count the votes and certify, in duplicate, the number of ballots cast for and received by each candidate. After the certificate is signed, the department chief shall post one copy at the voting place and, not later than 12 o’clock noon on the following day, deliver the other copy, together with all the ballots cast at the election, sealed in an envelope, to the chair of the board. On the day following the election, in the presence of the chief of the fire department and the chief of the police department, the chair shall open the envelope, examine the certificate, ascertain the result, and issue a certificate of election to the candidate receiving the highest number of votes. In case two or more candidates received the same number of votes at the election, the chair shall forthwith determine by lot from the names of the candidates which shall be the trustee. (d) No election shall be set aside for want of formality in balloting, or in certifying or transmitting returns. If a vacancy occurs in an elective membership on the board, the vacancy shall be filled for the unexpired term by appointment by the remaining members of the board from the membership of the department, the representation of which was affected by the vacancy.