In any district, whether heretofore or hereafter organized, 10 per cent or more of the adult landowners may petition the court to change the method of selecting commissioners from appointment to election. The practice and procedure on a petition to change from the appointment to the election of commissioners shall follow, as nearly as the facts will permit, the practice and procedure set forth in Section 4-6 for the change from elective to appointive commissioners. The commissioners in office at the time an order is given or made directing that thereafter the commissioners shall be elected in the manner provided by this Act shall continue in office until the time that their successors would have been appointed under Section 4-1 and until their successors have been elected and shall have qualified.
70 ILCS 605/4-8