2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE SIXTEEN - Election and Registration (§§ 1 — 4255) › Subtitle 6 - Election Code (2011) › Chapter 402 - State Election Commission (§§ 4011 — 4025) › § 4017 - Chair, Alternate Chair, and Vice Chairs

Election Commissioners shall appoint a Chair and an Alternate Chair, pursuant to this subtitle, who shall act as representatives of the public interest in the Commission. The participation and the unanimous vote of all Election Commissioners shall be required to appoint a Chair, an Alternate Chair, and Vice Chairs.
The Chair and the Alternate Chair shall be appointed not later than July first (1st) of the year following a general election. The term to hold such office shall be four (4) years as of the aforementioned date, until their successors are appointed and take office.
The Election Commissioner of the majority major party whose candidate for Governor polled the largest number votes in the immediately preceding election shall be charged with the nomination of the candidate(s) for the offices of Chair and Alternate Chair to be considered by the remaining Commissioners.
The First Vice Chair shall be appointed by the Election Commissioner of the majority major party whose candidate for Governor polled the largest number of votes in the immediately preceding election.
The Second Vice Chair shall be appointed by the Election Commissioner of the party whose candidate for Governor polled the second largest number of votes in the immediately preceding election.
The Third Vice Chair shall be appointed by the party that remained registered and that polled the third largest number of votes in the immediately preceding election, or in default thereof, the first party by petition that registers immediately after the preceding General Election.
The Chair, as well as the Alternate Chair and the Vice Chairs, shall be of legal age, residents of Puerto Rico as of the date of their appointment, duly qualified voters, of recognized professional capability and moral probity, and knowledgeable about election-related matters.
The office of Vice Chairs shall be trust positions of the political parties they represent. These may be dismissed from office due to a decision of the Election Commissioner of the Party they represent or due to any of the grounds for removal established in § 4018 of this title.
Vice Chairs shall earn the annual salary established by the Commission through regulations to that effect, which shall not be equal to or greater than that of the Chair or the Election Commissioners. The Chair and the Vice Chairs may avail themselves of the benefits of any Retirement System or Retirement Investment Plan provided by the Government of Puerto Rico, or any other in which they were enrolled or participating as of the date of their appointments.
If the appointment as Chair falls on a person holding office as judge of the General Court of Justice of Puerto Rico, said appointment shall result in a total and absolute discharge from and an impediment for the execution of any judicial or any other functions germane to judgeship. During his tenure as Chair of the Commission, he shall earn the salary that, in accordance with this subtitle, corresponds to the office of Chair or to his position of Judge, whichever is greater. Once the Chair ceases to hold office in the Commission, due to resignation or because the term of his appointment has expired, he shall earn, upon his return to the office of judge, the salary he would have been entitled to if he had continued holding such office uninterruptedly. The appointment as Chair shall not have the effect of interrupting the course of the term of appointment as judge.
History —June 1, 2011, No. 78, § 3.007; Dec. 22, 2014, No. 239, § 7.