AGO Opinion Topics: HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES

(1) In designating positions to be filled in the house of representatives from multimember districts at the 1966 general election , the secretary of state or a county auditor, as the case may be, is required, under § 1, chapter 52, Laws of 1965, to "designate the positions to be filled by consecutive number commencing with the 'No. 1'"; however it is neither necessary nor proper for such election officers to additionally designate in the notice of election or elsewhere "who these positions are now held by" since no incumbent representatives can be correctly described as presently holding office in any of the fifty-six new legislative districts created by the reapportionment act of 1965 (chapter 6, Laws of 1965)‑-nor are any of these newly established positions within multimember legislative districts in fact now held by anyone. (2) In legislative elections subsequent to 1966, the additional designation of "who the position is now held by" will not be required but will be legally proper since incumbent members of the house of representatives will then in fact have previously been elected from legislative districts and positions established by the 1965 legislature (until such time as there is enacted another new redistricting law).