“agency” means any district or agency of the type designated by and formed pursuant to the provisions of any principal act that incorporates this part.

by him or her to perform a duty of the secretary.

It is the purpose of this part to provide a procedure for the election of elective officers of districts. These elections shall be called and conducted and the results canvassed, returned, and declared pursuant to this part.

behalf of a landowner voting district if the governing body of the district, by resolution, requests that assistance and agrees to reimburse the county pursuant to Section 10520 and any county ordinances or resolutions consistent therewith. A district making that request shall supply information regarding qualified voters pursuant to Section 10525, and any other pertinent information requested by the county elections official. The election may be conducted by all-mailed ballots at the discretion of the county elections official. The election may not be held on the same date as a regularly scheduled election. The county elections official may rely upon the list of qualified voters and other information supplied by the district and shall not be required to determine the qualified voters. If the district does not supply the required information regarding qualified voters and other pertinent information requested by the county elections official within the time specified in Section 10525, the county elections

official shall have no further obligation with respect to the election, and the district shall be responsible for conducting all remaining election activities.

Where this part provides that the principal act shall govern, and the principal act contains no provisions on the matter, the general election laws of this state shall govern. Where neither this part nor the principal act apply, the general election laws of this state shall govern.

Whenever this part requires the secretary of a district to deliver a notice or other information to the county elections official on or before a designated date, the secretary may personally deliver the notice or other information on or before that date, or may deliver the notice or other information by certified mail if the notice or other information will be received by the county elections official in the ordinary course of the mails on or before that designated date.

The terms of office of elective officers in all new districts shall be determined as follows:

December of the second next following odd-numbered year.

resolution, require that its elections of governing body members be held on the same day as the statewide general election.

Whenever a district shall increase the number of divisions, if there are any, the terms of office of the offices of director thus created shall be determined by the governing body, but in no event shall the term designated by the governing body be for more than four years. The terms of office thus created shall be determined in such a manner as to keep as nearly equal as practicable the number of directors to be elected at each subsequent general district election. Upon the expiration of the term so designated by the governing body, the directorship shall be filled

at the next general district election and general district elections held thereafter. The term of office of each subsequent director thus elected is four years or until his or her successor qualifies and takes office.

Except as otherwise provided in this part, the term of office of each elective officer, elected or appointed pursuant to this part, is four years or until his or her successor qualifies and takes office.

The principal act shall govern whether directors of a district are elected by divisions or by the district at large. A governing body may require that the directors of the governing body be elected using district-based elections pursuant to Section 10650.

On the 125th day prior to the day fixed for the general district election, the secretary shall deliver a notice to the county elections official. The notice shall bear the secretary’s signature and the district seal and shall also contain both of the following:

certified mail so that the forms reach the office of the county election official no later than the deadline for filing in that office. The county elections official shall record the date of filing upon the first page of each declaration of candidacy filed pursuant to this section. No candidate shall withdraw his or her declaration of candidacy after 5 p.m. on the 88th day prior to the general district election.

The declaration of candidacy shall be in substantially the following form:

office.

Upon filing each declaration of candidacy, the county elections official shall examine the declaration to determine if it conforms with the provisions of this part and shall certify whether it is sufficient. For this purpose, the elections official shall be entitled to obtain from any officer of an affected county all information necessary to make this determination.

The qualifications of a candidate for elective office, and of an elective officer, of a district shall be determined by the principal act of that district.

directors who must reside in a division but be elected at large, the number of candidates for director at large from a division does not exceed the number required to be elected director at large while residing in that division; and if a petition signed by 10 percent of the voters or 50 voters, whichever is the smaller number, in the district or division if elected by division, requesting that the general district election be held has not been presented to the officer conducting the election, he or she shall submit a certificate of these facts to the supervising authority and request that the supervising authority, at a regular or special meeting held prior to the Monday before the first Friday in December in which the election is held, appoint to the office or offices the person or persons, if any, who have filed declarations of candidacy. The supervising authority shall make these appointments.

candidacy for any office, the supervising authority shall appoint any person to the office who is qualified on the date when the election would have been held. The person appointed shall qualify and take office and serve exactly as if elected at a general district election for the office.

a candidate may withdraw their declaration of candidacy until 5 p.m. on the 83rd day before the general election.

Except as otherwise provided by this part, the county elections official of each affected county shall conduct the general district election for the portion of the district located within the county. Where a district is located in two or more counties, the county elections officials of these counties may contract among themselves to have one of their number conduct the election for the district.

If, within any portion of a county, only one district has scheduled a general district election, the county elections official may authorize the appropriate officer of the district to perform any of the functions required of the county elections official under this part.

At the request of a district governing body, the county elections official may perform any of the duties of the district secretary and the supervising authority may perform any of the duties of the district governing body.