The regular term of office of the elective members of the board of trustees is six years with the members first elected being elected two for two years, two for four years, and three for six years. In electing members of the board, the General Assembly shall elect members based on merit regardless of race, color, creed, or gender and shall strive to assure that the membership of the board is representative of all citizens of the State of South Carolina. The General Assembly shall hold elections every even-numbered year to fill vacancies as they occur in the board by the expiration of terms of office. The present elective members of the board of trustees shall continue to serve until the thirtieth day of June of the year in which their terms are scheduled to expire. After its 1984 session, the General Assembly shall elect successors to those trustees whose terms are expiring not earlier than the first day of April for a term to begin the following July first. Elections to fill vacancies which are caused by the death, resignation, or removal of an elective trustee may be held earlier than the first day of April of the year in which the unexpired term terminates, but the term of the person elected to fill the vacancy expires on the last day of June of the year in which the term of the former member would have expired. When there is a vacancy otherwise occurring in the board of trustees among the elected members, the Governor may fill it by appointment until the next session of the General Assembly. The successors to the two present members who are graduates of Winthrop College appointed by the Winthrop College Alumnae Association or its successors must be elected by the members of the Winthrop College Alumnae Association at its annual meeting held at Winthrop College during commencement week in 1958 and they shall serve for a term of four years and their successors must be elected at the similar annual meeting every four years thereafter. The names of the two so elected must be certified to the Secretary of State by the president and secretary of the association and they shall take office immediately after the certification. The term of the at-large trustee appointed by the Governor is effective upon certification to the Secretary of State and is six years. Any vacancy in the office of the member appointed by the Governor must be filled by appointment of the Governor for the unexpired term in the same manner of original appointment.