1. Each board of election commissioners shall be composed of four members, appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate. Two commissioners on each board shall be members of one major political party, and two commissioners on each board shall be members of the other major political party. In no case shall more than two commissioners on a board be members of the same political party. When appointing commissioners, the governor shall designate one commissioner on each board to be chairman of the board and one commissioner on each board to be secretary of the board. The chairman and secretary of a board shall not be members of the same political party.

2. In jurisdictions with boards of election commissioners as the election authority, the governor may appoint to the board one representative from each established political party. The representative shall not be a member of the board for purposes of subsection 1 of this section. The state chair of each established political party shall submit a list of no more than four names from which the governor shall select the representative for that party. The representative shall not have voting status, and shall not be compensated, but shall be allowed to participate in discussions and be informed of any meeting of the board.