Section 3.(A)  Election.  Except as provided in Section 20 of this Article, the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, commissioner of agriculture, commissioner of insurance, superintendent of education, and commissioner of elections¹ each shall be elected for a term of four years by the electors of the state at the time and place of voting for members of the legislature.  The term of each such official shall begin at noon on the second Monday in January next following the election.

(B)  Limitation on Governor.  A person who has served as governor for more than one and one-half terms in two consecutive terms shall not be elected governor for the succeeding term.

(C)  Additional Limitation.  Except as provided by this constitution, no official shall be elected statewide.

(D)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this constitution or of law to the contrary, statewide elected officials and members of the legislature elected in 1987 shall hold office from and after the second Monday in March, 1988.  These statewide elected officials and any successor elected to the unexpired term of any of them shall serve for terms which shall expire at noon on January 13, 1992.  These members of the legislature and any successor elected to the unexpired term of any of them shall serve for terms which shall expire at ten o’clock a.m.  on January 13, 1992.  Thereafter, statewide elected officials and members of the legislature shall be elected for terms of four years.  For purposes of retirement, the statewide elected officials and members of the legislature elected in 1987 shall be deemed to be elected for a four-year term.

Acts 1986, No. 1082, §1, approved Sept. 27, 1986, eff. Oct. 30, 1986.

¹NOTE:  Acts 2001, No. 451, provided, effective January 12, 2004, for the appointment in lieu of election of the commissioner of elections and for the merger and consolidation of the Department of Elections and Registration with the Department of State pursuant to Art. IV, §20 of the constitution.