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 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. Many companies use staggered elections as a tool to prevent takeover attempts. Some legislative bodies (most commonly upper houses) use staggered elections, as do some public bodies, such as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
Application in business A staggered board of directors or classified board is a prominent practice in US corporate law governing the board of directors of a company, corporation, 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.See Faleye,O., 2007, Classified Boards, Firm value, and Managerial Entrenchment, Journal of Financial Economics83, 501-529. 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 takeover 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 at successive shareholder meetings in order to exercise control of the target firm. 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.See Lucian Bebchuk, John C. Coates IV, and Guhan Subramanian, The Powerful Antitakeover Force of Staggered Boards: Theory, Evidence, and Policy, 54 Stan. L. Rev. 887 (2002).
In corporate cumulative voting 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.Jared A. Favole, "Big Firms Increasingly Declassify Boards", The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 10, 2007.
Use in legislative bodies National +ChamberTypeClasses% of seats up per electionLength of term (years)Method of staggeringTotal123Argentine Chamber of DeputiesLower house24Every constituency has seats in both classes, with roughly half of the seats contested in each class individuallyArgentine SenateUpper house36Each constituency has all its seats in one class onlyAustralian SenateUpper house26The six states ordinarily elect half of their 12 senators at each election, while the 4 senators representing the territories are elected at each electionFederal Senate (Brazil)Upper house28Every constituency has seats in both classes, with two-thirds of the seats contested in class 1 and the remaining one-third in class 2Senate of ChileUpper house28Each constituency has all its seats in one class onlySenate of the Czech RepublicUpper house36Each constituency has all its seats in one class onlySenate (France)Upper house26Each constituency has all its seats in one class onlyRajya Sabha (India)Upper house36House of Councillors (Japan)Upper house26Every constituency has seats in both classes, with half of the seats contested in each class individuallySenate of LiberiaUpper house29Every constituency has seats in both classes, with half of the seats contested in each class individuallyNational Assembly (Nepal)Upper house36Every constituency has seats in all three classes, with roughly a third of the seats contested in each class individuallySenate of PakistanUpper house26Every constituency has seats in both classes, with half of the seats contested in each class individuallySenate of the PhilippinesUpper house26The Senate is elected nationwide at-large, with half of the seats contested in each class individuallyUnited States SenateUpper house36Every constituency has seats in two out of the three classes, with roughly a third of the seats contested in each class individually 6 years for state senators, 3 years for territory senators. In the Australian Senate, a double dissolution 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 where 12 seats are appointed by the president. By-elections (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: Chamber of Deputies and Senate Buenos Aires City: Unicameral legislature Catamarca: Chamber of Deputies and Senate Chaco: Unicameral legislature Corrientes: Chamber of Deputies and Senate Formosa: Unicameral legislature Jujuy: Unicameral legislature La Rioja: Unicameral legislature Mendoza: Chamber of Deputies and Senate Misiones: Unicameral legislature Salta: Chamber of Deputies and Senate San Luis: Chamber of Deputies and Senate
Australia In the federal Senate, half of the Senate's 76 members are eligible for re-election every 3 years. All members elected from states have a six-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 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 double dissolution election.
Three of Australia's five State Legislative Councils use staggered elections: New South Wales Legislative Council South Australian Legislative Council Tasmanian Legislative Council
Local councils in Western Australia also have staggered elections."Local Government Elections", Western Australian Electoral Commission.
India All six Legislative councils of states have staggered elections:
Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Bihar Legislative Council Karnataka Legislative Council Maharashtra Legislative Council Telangana Legislative Council Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council
United States 27 of the State Senates in the United States have staggered elections:"Length of terms of state senators", Ballotpedia, Accessed 24 August 2016.
Alaska State Senate Arkansas State Senate California State Senate Colorado State Senate Delaware State Senate Florida State Senate Hawaii State Senate Illinois State Senate Indiana State Senate Iowa Senate Kentucky State Senate Missouri State Senate Montana State Senate Nebraska Legislature Nevada State Senate North Dakota State Senate Ohio State Senate Oklahoma State Senate Oregon State Senate Pennsylvania State Senate Tennessee State Senate Texas State Senate Utah State Senate Washington State Senate West Virginia State Senate Wisconsin State Senate Wyoming State Senate
Local Some local councils in the United Kingdom, although the Electoral Commission in England has recommended that councils standardise on a 4-yearly whole council election cycle.Electoral Commission https://democracy.peterborough.gov.uk/documents/s47107/13a.%20Appendix%20A%20Electoral%20Commission%20The%20cycle%20of%20local%20government%20elections%20in%20England.pdf
Historical usage
National
General Council of Andorra (1867–1979)Consell General - L'abstenció al Principat d'Andorra Chamber of Representatives and Senate of Belgium (1835–1919) Senate and Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia (1944–1964) Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica (1913–1948) Senate and Chamber of Representatives of Cuba (1902–1950) Landsting of Denmark (1915–1953)Danmarks Statistik - Rigsdagsvalgene og folkeafstemningerne i april og maj 1953, p. 182 National Assembly of Ecuador (1945–1970, 1984–1998) National Congress of Honduras (until 1942) Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg (1922–1951) House of Representatives (1849–1888) and Senate (1848–1983) of the Netherlands National Congress of Nicaragua (1912–1932) First Chamber of Sweden (1867–1970)
Local Andorra: communal councils (1867–1979) Argentina: Legislature of Córdoba (until 2001) Chamber of Deputies of Santa Cruz (until 1998) Chamber of Deputies of Santiago del Estero (until 2002) Legislature of Tucumán (until 1989) Belgium: municipal councils and provincial councils (1836–1914) Spain: municipal councils and provincial deputations (until 1923) Japan: prefectural 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)
See also Industrial organization Mergers and acquisitions Takeover, including hostile takeover United Kingdom company law United States corporate law
Notes