§ 2002. Time and place of annual meeting. 1. The annual meeting and election of each school district shall be held on the third Tuesday of May in each year, provided, however that such annual meeting and election shall be held on the second Tuesday in May if the commissioner at the request of a local school board certifies no later than March first that such election would conflict with religious observances. Unless the hour and place thereof shall have been fixed by a vote of a previous district meeting, the same shall be held in the schoolhouse at seven-thirty o'clock in the evening in the case of a school district that is not divided into election districts and conducts its election or vote by recording the ayes or noes of the qualified voters attending, or, in the case of all other districts, during at least six consecutive hours after six a.m., two of which hours shall be after six p.m. as determined by resolution of the trustees or board of education, provided, however, that the trustees or board of education of any school district that conducted its annual meeting at seven-thirty p.m. in nineteen hundred ninety-seven may conduct its annual election and budget vote at such time in nineteen hundred ninety-eight. If a district possesses more than one schoolhouse, it shall be held in the one usually employed for that purpose, unless the trustees or board of education designate another, provided that if the school district is divided into election districts such annual meeting and election shall be held at such place in each election district as the board of education may designate. If the district possesses no schoolhouse, or if the schoolhouse shall not be accessible or adequate, then the annual meeting and election shall be held at such place as the trustees or board of education, or the clerk, shall designate in the notice.