Term of office of council members - Staggered terms provided for in cities where other than ten council members elected
N.D. Cent. Code § 40-08-06
in effect40-08-06. Term of office of council members - Staggered terms provided for in cities
where other than ten council members elected.
Council members shall hold office for four years and until their successors are elected and
qualified. Terms of council members must be arranged so that one-half of the council members
in any city, as nearly as practicable, are elected in any one election. When a city first adopts the
council form of government or changes the number of council members, or when a city that has
adopted the commission system of government returns to the city council form of government
as provided by section 40-04-08, the alternation of the terms of the council members must be
perfected as follows: of the council members elected in each ward, the one receiving the greater
number of votes shall serve until the first day of July following the second succeeding biennial
election and the one receiving the lesser number of votes shall serve until the first day of July
following the biennial election succeeding the council member's election; if the city is not divided
into wards, the one-half of the council members elected in the entire city receiving the greater
number of votes shall serve until the first day of July following the second succeeding biennial
election and the one-half of the council members elected in the entire city receiving the lesser
number of votes shall serve until the first day of July following the biennial election succeeding
their election. Whenever, for any reason, vacancies exist on the council which require an
unexpired term to be filled by election, the unexpired term must be designated on the ballot
separate from any other regular term or terms that may also appear on the ballot. Candidates
seeking nomination to an unexpired term are required to indicate whether or not they are
seeking a regular term of office or an unexpired term of office on their nominating petitions as
set forth in section 40-21-07.
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t40c08.pdf#nameddest=40-08-06Fetched: 10/16/2026