The Text

The Legislature shall provide for submitting to the electors of the State at the general election in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-three, two questions, to be voted upon on separate ballots, as follows: First, “Shall the offices of chief judge and associate judge of the court of appeals, and of justice of the supreme court, be hereafter filled by appointment?” If a majority of the votes upon the question shall be in the affirmative, the said offices shall not thereafter be elective, but, as vacancies occur, they shall be filled by appointment by the governor by and with the advice and consent of the senate; or if the senate be not in session, by the governor; but in such case, he shall nominate to the senate when next convened, and such appointment by the governor alone shall expire at the end of that session. Second, “Shall the offices of the judges mentioned in sections twelve and fifteen of article six of the constitution, be hereafter filled by appointment?” If a majority of votes upon the question shall be in the affirmative, the said offices shall not thereafter be elective, but as vacancies occur, they shall be filled in the manner in this section above provided.