(b)1. At the next general election following the effective date of this act, or on or after the effective date of a special act or general act of local application creating a new district, the members of the board shall be elected by the electors of the district in the manner provided in this section. The office of each member of the board is designated as being a seat on the board, distinguished from each of the other seats by a numeral: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. The numerical seat designation does not designate a geographical subdistrict unless such subdistrict exists on the effective date of this act, in which case the candidates must reside in the subdistrict, and only electors of the subdistrict may vote in the election for the member from that subdistrict. Each candidate for a seat on the board shall designate, at the time the candidate qualifies, the seat on the board for which the candidate is qualifying. The name of each candidate who qualifies for election to a seat on the board shall be included on the ballot in a way that clearly indicates the seat for which the candidate is a candidate. The candidate for each seat who receives the most votes cast for a candidate for the seat shall be elected to the board.
2. If, on the effective date of this act, a district presently in existence elects members of its board, the next election shall be conducted in accordance with this section, but this section does not require the early expiration of any member’s term of office by more than 60 days.
3. If, on the effective date of this act, a district does not elect the members of its board, the entire board shall be elected in accordance with this section. However, in the first election following the effective date of this act, seats 1, 3, and 5 shall be designated for 4-year terms and seats 2 and 4 shall be designated for 2-year terms.
4. If, on the effective date of this act, the district has an elected three-member board, one of the two seats added by this act shall, for the first election following the effective date of this act, be designated for a 4-year term and the other for a 2-year term, unless the terms of the three existing seats all expire within 6 months of the first election following the effective date of this act, in which case seats 1, 3, and 5 shall be designated for 4-year terms and seats 2 and 4 shall be designated for 2-year terms.
5. If the district has an elected three-member board designated to remain three members by special act adopted in 1997 or thereafter, the terms of the board members shall be staggered. In the first election following the effective date of this act, seats 1 and 3 shall be designated for 4-year terms, and seat 2 for a 2-year term.