SECTION 46

Election and terms of office of senators and representatives; vacancies in office.

Senators and representatives shall be elected by the qualified electors on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November unless the legislature shall change the time of holding elections and in every fourth year thereafter. The terms of office of the senators and representatives shall commence on the day after the general election at which they are elected, and expire on the day after the general election held in the fourth year after their election, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution. At the general election in the year nineteen hundred and two all the representatives, together with the senators for the even numbered districts and for the thirty-fifth district, shall be elected. The terms of those senators who represent the odd numbered districts under the law in force prior to the ratification of this Constitution, are hereby extended until the day after the general election in the year nineteen hundred and six; and until the expiration of his term as hereinbefore extended, each such senator shall represent the district established by this Constitution, bearing the number corresponding with that for which he was elected. In the year nineteen hundred and six, and in every fourth year thereafter, all the senators and representatives shall be elected. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in either house, the governor shall issue a writ of election to fill such vacancy for the remainder of the term.