Appointment of poll managers; designation of bailiff

Before every election, the election commissioners shall appoint three (3) persons for each voting precinct to be poll managers, one (1) of whom shall be designated by the election commissioners as election bailiff. For general and special elections, the poll managers shall not all be of the same political party if suitable persons of different political parties can be found in the district. If any person appointed shall fail to attend and serve, the poll managers present, if any, may designate someone to fill his or her place; and if the election commissioners fail to make the appointments or in case of the failure of all those appointed to attend and serve, any three (3) qualified electors present when the polls should be opened may act as poll managers. Any person appointed to be poll manager or act as poll manager shall be a qualified elector of the county, or in the case of a municipal election, the municipality, in which the polling place is located; however, in those municipalities having a population of less than two thousand (2,000) according to the latest decennial census, a person who is not a qualified elector of the municipality may be appointed to serve or act as a poll manager in a municipal election so long as that person is a qualified elector of the county in which the municipality is located.