(1) Election and term. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be elected by the qualified voters of the State in 1972 and every four years thereafter, at the same time and places as members of the General Assembly are elected. Their term of office shall be four years and shall commence on the first day of January next after their election and continue until their successors are elected and qualified.
(2) Qualifications. No person shall be eligible for election to the office of Governor or Lieutenant Governor unless, at the time of his election, he shall have attained the age of 30 years and shall have been a citizen of the United States for five years and a resident of this State for two years immediately preceding his election. No person elected to the office of Governor or Lieutenant Governor shall be eligible for election to more than two consecutive terms of the same office.
(1977, c. 363, s. 1.)
History Note. - The provisions of subsection (1) of this section are similar to those of Art. III, § 1, Const. 1868, as amended in 1872-1873 and 1944. The provisions of subsection (2) of this section are similar to those of Art. III, § 2, Const. 1868, as amended in 1962.
Editor's Note. - Session Laws 1985 (Reg. Sess., 1986), c. 1010, repealed Session Laws 1985, c. 61, which had proposed to amend this section by rewriting the last sentence of subsection (2).
Defeated Amendment Proposals. - An amendment proposed by Session Laws 1981, c. 504, and defeated at the general election held in 1982, would have rewritten the first sentence of subsection (1) to provide that the Governor and Lieutenant Governor would be elected at the places and on the day prescribed by law.
An amendment proposed by Session Laws 1985, c. 768, ss. 2, 3 and 9.1(1), and defeated at the primary election held on May 6, 1986, would have amended this section by substituting "1988, and in 1993 and every four years thereafter" for "1972 and every four years thereafter" in the first sentence of subsection (1), by adding "except in 1988 at the same time and places as members of the United States House of Representatives are elected" at the end of the first sentence of subsection (1), and by adding "except that the term of office of those elected in 1988 shall be for five years" at the end of subsection (1).
CASE NOTES
The Governor has the duty to supervise the official conduct of all executive officers. Tice v. DOT, 67 N.C. App. 48, 312 S.E.2d 241 (1984).
The constitutional independence of executive offices, and their differing functions and duties, create clear potential for conflict between their respective holders. In the event of such conflict, power in the Attorney General to resolve, without their consent, controversies involving agencies or departments under the supervision of the Governor, could be abused by exercise in a manner effectively derogative of the Governor's constitutional duties to exercise executive power and to supervise the official conduct of all executive officers. The General Assembly, in the enactment of G.S. 114-2(2), did not intend to create such potential. Tice v. DOT, 67 N.C. App. 48, 312 S.E.2d 241 (1984).