(a) Within 30 days after the district court has declared that the drainage district is organized, the clerk of the court shall call a meeting of the owners of the real estate located within the district for the purpose of electing a board of five supervisors to be composed of owners of real estate located within the district. A majority of the supervisors shall be residents of the county, or counties, in which the drainage district is located. Notice of such meeting shall be published at least 15 days prior to the meeting and shall specify the time, place and purpose of the meeting. The landowners, when assembled, shall organize by the election of a chairperson and a secretary of the meeting, who shall conduct the election. At such election and all succeeding elections, including elections to approve the issuance of bonds or no-fund warrants, each and every acre of land in the district shall represent one share and each owner shall be entitled to one vote for each acre owned in such district. A vote at any election may be cast by the landowner or by a legally appointed proxy.

At the first election one person shall be elected supervisor for a term of one year, two persons for terms of two years, and two persons for terms of three years, thereafter all supervisors shall be elected for terms of three years and until their successors are elected and qualified. Elections to choose supervisors or their successors shall be at the annual meeting of the owners of the real estate located within the district. Supervisors elected in any district prior to the effective date of this act shall hold their office until their successors are elected and qualified.

If a vacancy occurs at any time in the office of a supervisor of any such drainage district, the remaining supervisors shall appoint from the qualified residents in the district a person to hold the office of supervisor until the next election.

(b) For the purpose of determining the total number of acre votes which each landowner is entitled to cast at the meeting for the first election of supervisors, the clerk of the district court shall deliver to the secretary elected at the first landowners’ meeting, at the time of the secretary’s election, a written certificate, prepared from the proceedings in the district court for the formation of such drainage district, which sets forth the names of all landowners in the district and the legal description and acreage of all land located within the district. In all elections, except the first, the county clerk shall determine the names of all landowners within the drainage district and the number of acres owned by each landowner as of 20 days prior to the date of any election.

Any landowner within the district whose name or total acreage does not appear or appears incorrectly on such certificate may request the county clerk to add the landowner’s name to the certificate or to correct the acreage on the certificate. The county clerk may administer oaths and affirm witnesses, take testimony and examine documents and records necessary to determine the qualification of any landowner to vote and the total acreage of the landowner. After the completion of the investigation, the county clerk shall issue a certificate stating that the landowner to whom the same is issued is entitled to vote and certifying the total acreage owned by the landowner to whom the certificate is issued. Such certificate shall be accepted by the judges and clerks of the election and the landowner shall be allowed to vote the number of acre votes stated in the certificate.