7.010 Terms of office

This rule sets up the timeline for when lawyers serving on judicial nominating commissions officially start and end their terms. It says these terms are counted as starting on January 1, 1976, even though the rule itself came later.

Because 1976 was the starting point, the first elections that year were special elections. Their only job was to fill out the remaining time left on those initial terms, not to start a full new term. After that first round, things moved to a regular schedule.

From then on, elections for these positions happen every four years. They take place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, which is the same day as many other general elections. This keeps the process predictable and lets people know exactly when these seats come up for a vote.