Staggered elections are elections where only some of the places in an elected body are up for election at the same time. For example,

United States senators The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and p ...

have a six-year term, but they are not all elected at the same time. Rather, elections are held every two years for one-third of Senate seats. Staggered elections have the effect of limiting control of a representative body by the body being represented, but can also minimize the impact of

cumulative voting Cumulative voting (also accumulation voting, weighted voting or multi-voting) is a multiple-winner method intended to promote more proportional representation than winner-take-all elections such as block voting or first past the post. Cumulativ ...

. Many

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

use staggered elections as a tool to prevent

takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...

attempts. Some legislative bodies (most commonly

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

s) use staggered elections, as do some public bodies, such as the

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

Application in business

A staggered board of directors or classified board is a prominent practice in

US corporate law United States corporate law regulates the governance, finance and power of corporations in US law. Every state and territory has its own basic corporate code, while federal law creates minimum standards for trade in company shares and governa ...

governing the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit orga ...

of a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared ...

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

, or other organization, in which only a fraction (often one third) of the members of the board of directors is elected each time instead of en masse (where all directors have one-year terms). Each group of directors falls within a specified "class"—e.g., Class I, Class II, etc.—hence the use of the term "classified" board. The work of the Shareholder Rights Project has had a significant effect on the number of classified boards on the S&P 500. In publicly held companies, staggered boards have the effect of making hostile

attempts more difficult; however, they are also associated with lower firm value. When a board is staggered, hostile bidders must win more than one

proxy fight A proxy fight, proxy contest or proxy battle (sometimes even called a proxy war) is an unfriendly contest for the control over an organization. The event usually occurs when a corporation's stockholders develop opposition to some aspect of the cor ...

at successive shareholder meetings in order to exercise control of the target

firm A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared ...

. Particularly in combination with a poison pill, a staggered board that cannot be dismantled or evaded is one of the most potent takeover defenses available to U.S. companies. In corporate

systems, staggering has two basic effects: it makes it more difficult for a minority group to get directors elected, as the fewer directorships up for election requires a larger percent of the equity to win; and it makes takeover attempts less likely to succeed as it is harder to vote in a majority of new directors. Staggering may also however serve a more beneficial purpose, that is provide "institutional memory" — continuity in the board of directors — which may be significant for corporations with long-range projects and plans. Institutional shareholders are increasingly calling for an end to staggered boards of directors—also called "declassifying" the boards. ''The Wall Street Journal'' reported in January 2007 that 2006 marked a key switch in the trend toward declassification or annual votes on all directors: more than half (55%) of the S&P 500 companies have declassified boards, compared with 47% in 2005.

Use in legislative bodies

National

* In the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. There are a t ...

, a

double dissolution A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives ( lower house) and the Senate (upper house). A double dissoluti ...

election can happen, where all seats are contested. The 4 Territory seats are contested at each election. * Some chambers do not have all of its seats elected, such as in the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

where 12 seats are appointed by the president. *

By-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...

s (special elections) can be held concurrently with general elections, increasing the number of seats up in an election.

State

Argentina

12 of the 24 provincial legislatures have staggered elections: *

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Buenos Aires City Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Unicameral legislature Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

* Catamarca: Chamber of Deputies and Senate * Chaco:

Corrientes Corrientes (; Guaraní: Taragüí, literally: "Currents") is the capital city of the province of Corrientes, Argentina, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, about from Buenos Aires and from Posadas, on National Route 12. It ha ...

: Chamber of Deputies and Senate *

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territori ...

Jujuy San Salvador de Jujuy (), commonly known as Jujuy and locally often referred to as San Salvador, is the capital and largest city of Jujuy Province in northwest Argentina. Also, it is the seat of the Doctor Manuel Belgrano Department. It lies ne ...

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, an ...

* Mendoza: Chamber of Deputies and Senate * Misiones:

* Salta: Chamber of Deputies and Senate * San Luis: Chamber of Deputies and Senate

Australia

In the federal

, half of the Senate's 76 members are eligible for re-election every 3 years. All members elected from states have a 6 year term staggered over two election cycles; senators elected from the ACT and the NT have 3 year terms only. These half-Senate elections are usually held in conjunction with an

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...

of all members for the Federal House of Representatives. There are rare instances in which a Federal election is held for the all members of the House of Representatives and all the members of the Senate at once, this is called a

election. Three of Australia's five State Legislative Councils use staggered elections: *

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in t ...

South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the House of Assembly. It sits in Par ...

Tasmanian Legislative Council The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two chambers of the Parliament, the other being the House of Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in the state capital, ...

Local councils in Western Australia also have staggered elections.

India

All six Legislative councils of states have staggered elections: *

Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council or Andhra Pradesh Śāsana Manḍali is the upper house of the legislature of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and the lower house being the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly It is situated in the ...

Bihar Legislative Council Bihar Vidhan Parishad, also known as Bihar Legislative Council, is the upper house of the bicameral Bihar Legislature of the state of Bihar in India. History A new Province of Bihar and Odisha was created by the Government of India on 12 Dece ...

Karnataka Legislative Council The Karnataka Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Karnataka state in South Western India. Karnataka is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses: the L ...

* Maharashtra Legislative Council *

Telangana Legislative Council The Telangana Legislative Council or Telangana Saasana Mandali is the upper house of the Telangana Legislature of the Indian state of Telangana; the lower house being the Telangana Legislative Assembly. It is situated in the state capital ...

Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad'') is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh, a state in India. Uttar Pradesh is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is ...

United States

27 of the State Senates in the United States have staggered elections: * Alaska State Senate *

Arkansas State Senate The Arkansas State Senate is the upper branch of the Arkansas General Assembly. The Senate consists of 35 members, each representing a district with about 83,000 people. Service in the state legislature is part-time, and many state senators have ...

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. D ...

* Colorado State Senate *

Delaware State Senate The Delaware Senate is the upper house of the Delaware General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is composed of 21 Senators, each of whom is elected to a four-year term, except when reapportionment occurs, at wh ...

Florida State Senate The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted in ...

Hawaii State Senate The Hawaii Senate is the upper house of the Hawaii State Legislature. It consists of twenty-five members elected from an equal number of constituent districts across the islands and is led by the President of the Senate, elected from the memb ...

Illinois State Senate The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the ...

Indiana State Senate The Indiana Senate is the upper house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Senate is composed of 50 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. Senators serve four-year term ...

Iowa Senate The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly, United States. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, ...

* Kentucky State Senate *

Missouri State Senate The Missouri Senate is the upper chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 34 members, representing districts with an average population of 174,000. Its members serve four-year terms, with half the seats being up for election every two yea ...

Montana State Senate The Montana Senate is the upper house of the Montana Legislature, the state legislative branch of the U.S. state of Montana. The body is composed of 50 senators elected for four years. Composition of the Senate :''67th Legislature – 2021–202 ...

Nebraska Legislature The Nebraska Legislature (also called the Unicameral) is the legislature of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The Legislature meets at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln. With 49 members, known as "senators", the Nebraska Legislature is the sm ...

Nevada State Senate The Nevada Senate is the upper house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of U.S. state of Nevada, the lower house being the Nevada Assembly. It currently (2012–2021) consists of 21 members from single-member districts. In the previ ...

North Dakota State Senate The North Dakota Senate is the upper house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly, smaller than the North Dakota House of Representatives. Per the state constitution, North Dakota is divided into between 40 and 54 legislative districts appor ...

Ohio State Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the s ...

Oklahoma State Senate The Oklahoma Senate is the upper house of the two houses of the Legislature of Oklahoma, the other being the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The total number of senators is set at 48 by the Oklahoma Constitution.Oregon State Senate The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the state Sena ...

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealt ...

Tennessee State Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any issue reg ...

Texas State Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per con ...

Utah State Senate The Utah State Senate is the upper house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The Utah Senate is composed of 29 elected members representing an equal number of senate districts. Each senate district i ...

Washington State Senate The Washington State Senate is the upper house of the Washington State Legislature. The body consists of 49 members, each representing a district with a population of nearly 160,000. The State Senate meets at the Legislative Building in Olymp ...

West Virginia State Senate The West Virginia Senate is the upper house of the West Virginia Legislature. There are seventeen senatorial districts. Each district has two senators who serve staggered four-year terms. Although the Democratic Party held a supermajority in t ...

Wisconsin State Senate The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the larger Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after t ...

Wyoming State Senate The Wyoming Senate is the upper house of the Wyoming State Legislature. There are 30 Senators in the Senate, representing an equal number of constituencies across Wyoming, each with a population of at least 17,000. The Senate meets at the Wyom ...

Local

* Some local councils in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Historical usage

National

General Council of Andorra The General Council ( ca, Consell General d'Andorra, ) is the unicameral parliament of Andorra. It is sometimes referred to as the General Council of the Valleys (Catalan: ''Consell General de les Valls'') because it was the historical name ...

(1867–1979)Consell General - L'abstenció al Principat d'Andorra
/ref> * Chamber of Representatives and

Senate of Belgium The Senate ( nl, Senaat, ; french: Sénat, ; german: Senat) is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the "upper house" of the Federal Parli ...

(1835–1919) *

and

Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia The Chamber of Deputies ( es, Cámara de Diputados) is the lower house of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia. The composition and powers of this house are established in the Political Constitution of the State. The session room i ...

(1944–1964) *

Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica The Legislative Assembly ( es, Asamblea Legislativa) forms the unicameral legislative branch of the Costa Rican government. The national congress building is located in the capital city, San José, specifically in Carmen district of the San J ...

(1913–1948) * Senate and Chamber of Representatives of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

(1902–1950) * Landsting of Denmark (1915–1953) *

National Assembly of Ecuador The National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional) is the unicameral legislature of Ecuador. It replaced the National Congress in 2009 following reforms under the 2008 Constitution. The current President of the Assembly is Virgilio Saquicela si ...

(1945–1970, 1984–1998) *

National Congress of Honduras The National Congress ( es, Congreso Nacional) is the legislative branch of the government of Honduras. Organization The Honduran Congress is a unicameral legislature. The nominal President of the National Congress of Honduras is currentl ...

(until 1942) *

Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg french: Chambre des Députés german: Abgeordnetenkammer , coa_pic = , coa_res = , foundation = , session_room = Joint meeting with the Members of the Standing Committee, the Members of the Luxembourg dele ...

(1922–1951) *

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

(1849–1888) and

(1848–1983) of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

National Congress ''National Congress'' is a term used in the names of various political parties and legislatures . Political parties *Ethiopia: Oromo National Congress *Guyana: People's National Congress (Guyana) *India: Indian National Congress *Iraq: Iraqi Nati ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...

(1912–1932) * First Chamber of Sweden (1867–1970)

Local

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

: communal councils (1867–1979) *

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

: municipal councils and provincial councils (1836–1914) *

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

: municipal councils and provincial deputations (until 1923) *

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

prefectural A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...

assemblies (1878–1890s)Akio Kamiko (2010, bilingual)
近代地方行政の黎明期(1868-1880年)
pp. 7–8: 府県会規則
The Start of Modern Local Government (1868 – 1880)
pp. 10–11: Prefectural Assembly Law (Fukenkai Kisoku)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Staggered Elections Corporate law Elections

Application in business

Use in legislative bodies

National

State

Argentina

Australia

India

United States

Local

Historical usage

National

Local

See also

Notes