19:6-3 Appointment of district board members by county board, Assignment Judge of Superior Court.

19:6-3. a. (1) The county board shall, on or before April 1, appoint the members of the district boards in the manner prescribed by paragraph (2) of this subsection. The members of any district board shall be equally apportioned between the two political parties which at the last preceding general election held for the election of all of the members of the General Assembly cast the largest and next largest number of votes respectively in this State for members of the General Assembly, except that if the county board is unable to fill all of the positions of the members of a particular district board from among qualified members of those two political parties, the county board shall appoint to any such unfilled position an otherwise qualified person who is unaffiliated with any political party, but no such appointment of an unaffiliated person shall be made prior to March 25, and in no event shall more than two such unaffiliated persons serve at the same time on any district board.

(2) In making appointments of members of the several district boards of the county, the county board shall consult with the chairperson of the county committee of each of the two political parties referred to in paragraph (1) of this subsection. On or before March 15 of each year, the county board shall transmit to each of those chairpersons a list of those positions on the membership of the several district boards that are subject to apportionment under that paragraph (1) to the political party of which that chairperson is a member, and to which the county board has been unable to make an appointment from among qualified members of that political party. The county board shall include with each such list a request that the chairperson to whom that list is transmitted return to the board a list of the names of candidates for those unfilled positions. On or before March 25, the county board shall, on the basis of the lists so returned to it, fill as many of the remaining unfilled positions in the membership of the several district boards as possible, and shall assign or reassign appointees as necessary to ensure that the membership of each district board within the county shall include at least one member of each of the two political parties. The county board shall then appoint to any unfilled position on a district board an otherwise qualified person who is unaffiliated with any political party.

b. In case the county board shall neglect, refuse or be unable to appoint and certify the members of the district boards as herein provided, the Assignment Judge of the Superior Court shall, before April 10 of every other year, make such appointments and certifications.

amended 1948, c.2, s.5; 1953, c.19, s.8; 1965, c.4, s.4; 1966, c.19, s.3; 1991, c.91, s.239; 1996, c.120, ss.3,11; 2005, c.136, s.6; 2007, c.61, s.3; 2011, c.134, s.6.