OF ELECTIONS. package of clerk of SECTION 15. At the opening of the election, after the Opening of qualification of the several officers and in the presence of ballots. the others the inspector or the chairman of the board of inspectors shall open the package of ballots in such a manner as to preserve the seals intact. He shall then deliver to the clerk of the election of the opposite political party from his own, twenty-five of the ballots and to the other clerk of the election the stamps for marking the ballots. The clerks of the election shall at once proceed Duty of to write their initials, in ink, on the lower left hand corner election. of the back of each of the said ballots, in their ordinary handwriting, and without any distinguishing mark of any kind. As each successive elector calls for a ballot the clerk of the election having the custody of the ballots shall deliver to him the first signed of the twenty-five ballots, and the inspector shall immediately deliver to the Delivery of said clerk of the election another ballot which the clerks. of the election shall at once countersign, as before, and add to the ballots already countersigned, so that it shall be delivered for voting after all of those theretofore countersigned. ballots. have cards SECTION 16. The Clerk of the Peace of each county Instructions shall cause to be printed in large type on cards, in English and for voting. such other language as he may deem necessary, instructions for the guidance of electors in preparing their ballots. He shall furnish twelve of such cards in each of the languages determined upon by him to each of the election inspectors at the same time he delivers to him the ballots for his hundred or election district. Each inspector shall Inspectors to cause to be posted one of each of said cards in each place posted. or compartment provided for the preparation of ballots, and one of each kind of such cards at or near to the outer end of the enclosure leading to the polling place, and not nearer than thirty feet of the polling place, and not less than three of each of such cards, and three samples of each of the ballots in and about the polling place at the opening of the polls on the day of election, which sample ballots shall be printed on different colored paper than the genuine ballots. Said cards shall contain full instructions Form of to the voters as to what must be done: First, to obtain ballots for voting; second, to prepare the ballots for voting; third, to obtain a new ballot in place of one accidentally defaced, mutilated or spoiled, also copies of Sections 24, 32, 33, 34 and 35 of this act. cards of instruction. Challengers, where to stand. No other persons, ex cept to vote, 30 feet of en trance. OF ELECTIONS. SECTION 17. One challenger appointed and designated by each political party as hereinbefore provided shall be entitled to stand at the side of the passage and near the entrance to the room. No other person shall remain within thirty feet of said entrance except for the purpose to be within of offering his vote, and voters shall approach and enter the passage in the order in which they appear for the purpose of voting. If any person offering to vote shall be Challengers. Challenged by one of such challengers or by any one of the election officers his right to vote shall be at once determined by the proper officers and if his vote is refused he shall immediately stand aside and give place to the person next in line and retire without delay from within the thirty feet space around the entrance to the room. Voters' assistants. Duty of voters' assistants. Oath. Admission of voter to election room. voters ad mitted to election room. Ballot and stamp by SECTION 18. Before opening the election the inspector and judges of each hundred or election district shall select an honest and capable man from each of the two principal political parties who shall occupy a place within the room where the election is being held assigned to them by the inspector and judges. It shall be their duty when called upon to assist any voter in the preparation of his ballot when from any cause he is unable to do so and to assist any other voter in changing or altering his ballot who cannot read and write or cannot do either in the manner hereinafter prescribed. The persons so chosen shall be called the voters' assistants, and shall be deemed to be election officers, and such persons before entering upon their duties shall take the oath hereinafter prescribed, the said oath to be administered by the inspector. SECTION 19. When a voter shall have been passed by the challengers he shall be admitted to the election room. Provided, however, that there shall not be in the room at any one Number of time more than one voter for each booth therein. On entering the room the voter shall announce his name to the clerks of election who shall register it. The clerk holding the ballots shall deliver to him one ballot and the other clerk shall deliver to him a stamp and both the voters' assistants, on request, shall give explanation of the manner of voting; if deemed necessary, by unanimous consent of the election officers an interpreter may be called. The voter shall then, and without leaving the room, go alone into any of the booths Preparing which may be unoccupied and indicate the candidates for whom he desires to vote by stamping the square immediately whom delivered. Duties of voter. ballot. OF ELECTIONS. folded. preceding their names: Provided, however, that if he shall Proviso. desire to vote for all candidates of one party and none other, he may place the stamp on the square preceding the title under which the candidates of such party are printed, and the vote shall then be counted for all the candidates under that title, unless the names of one or more candidates under another title shall also be stamped, in which case the names of the candidates so stamped shall be counted. Any voter Erasures. while in the booth may erase the name of any candidate and substitute the name of any person in any column of the ballot which shall stand in lieu of the original name. Such Alterations and changes alterations and changes in the printed ballot shall be made How made. by pen and ink only. Before leaving the booth or com- Ballots; how partment the voter shall fold his ballot so that no part of the face thereof shall be exposed and so that the initials of the clerks of the election shall be exposed, and on leaving the booth or compartment shall return the stamp to the clerk of the election and deliver the ballot to the inspector or to the judge who may temporarily be authorized to act for the inspector who shall forthwith in the presence of the voter and How deof the other election officers deposit the same in the ballot box; and the clerks of the election shall write the word Duty of "voted" after the name of the voter on the poll list: Pro- proviso. vided, however, that if any elector shall show his ballot, or any part thereof to any other person after the same shall What ballots have been marked, so as to disclose any of the candidates deposited. voted for, such ballot shall not be deposited in the ballot box. A minute of such occurrence shall be made on the poll list and such person shall not be allowed to vote thereafter. The voter shall immediately after voting leave the room and upon his refusal to do so may be ejected therefrom, but no voter No voter to to whom a ballot and stamp, or either, have been delivered room with shall be permitted to leave the room without voting the ballot or returning it to the clerk of the election or without returning the stamp to the clerk of the election from whom he received it. Any voter who shall attempt to leave the To be room with the ballot or stamp in his possession shall be at once arrested on demand of an election officer. posited. clerks. shall not be leave the ballot and stamp. arrested. persons in room at one tlme. SECTION 20. Not more than one person shall be permitted Number of to occupy any booth at one time; and no person shall remain in or occupy a booth longer than may be necessary to prepare his ballot, and in no event longer than three minutes. No more than one person for each booth in the room other than the election officers shall be permitted to enter or be in the Time for voting. OF ELECTIONS. election room at any one time, and no voter or person offering to vote shall hold any conversation or communicate Conversa with any other person than an election officer while in the election room. tion. Defaced or mutilated ballots. Voters' assistants to lots, etc. When. SECTION 21. Any person who shall by accident or mistake, spoil, deface, or inutilate his ballot may, on returning the same to the clerks of the election and satisfying them that such spoiling defacing or mutilation was not intentional, receive another in place thereof, and such clerk. shall make a minute of the facts on the poll lists at the time, and the mutilated ballot shall then be destroyed by the elector in the presence of the election officers. SECTION 22. Any elector who declares that by reason of prepare bal- physical disability or inability either to read or write, or both, he is unable to mark or alter his ballot, may call to his assistance the voters' assistants who, in the presence of the elector and in the presence of each other, shall prepare the ballot for voting in the manner hereinbefore provided, and on request shall read over to such elector the names of the candidates as marked or written. Any one making Penalty for a false declaration under the provisions of this section shall upon conviction be fined in any sum not exceeding one Penalty for hundred dollars, and any voters' assistant who shall deceive ceiving voter any elector in selecting and marking any ballot, or mark the same in any other way than is requested by said elector shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction, shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars and may at the discretion of the court be imprisoned for a term not exceeding five years. false declar ation. assistant de What ballots not deposited. Penalty for removing or attempting to remove room, or SECTION 23. No inspector of election, or judge acting for the inspector, shall deposit any ballot upon which the initials of the clerks of the election as herein before provided for does not appear or any ballot on which appears externally any distinguishing mark, defacement or mutilation. SECTION 24. Any person who shall remove or attempt to ballots or remove a ballot or stamp from the election room, or have in stamps from his possession outside of the election room any ballot or having any stamp, either genuine or counterfeit, during the election, stamp out shall be guilty of a misdemeaner, and, on conviction thereof side election by indictment, shall be fined not less than two hundred ballot or room. OF ELECTIONS. dollars and not more than five hundred dollars or may be imprisoned for a term not exceeding two years and not less than one. election SECTION 25. That the election officers, including the Oaths of voters' assistants, before entering upon the duties of their officers. office shall each take an oath that he will not disclose the name of any voter who may change or alter his ballot or for whom he voted or how he marked his ballot; that he will not in any manner attempt to influence, intimidate, persuade, bribe or coerce any voter in the marking of his ballot or in the making of the choice of the person or persons for whom he votes, and any election officer or voters' assistant who shall violate his oath in any of these particulars shall be guilty of willful and deliberate perjury and upon conviction Violation of thereof by indictment he shall in addition to the penalties penalty. and disabilities annexed to such crime be fined not more than five hundred dollars and may at the discretion of the court be imprisoned not exceeding two years. oath, appoint 3 sioners for Commis SECTION 26. That the Governor be and he is hereby Governor to authorized and empowered to appoint three commissioners Commisfor each of the counties of this State, one of whom in each county shall be a member of a political party opposite to the one of which the other two are members. It shall be the Duties of duty of said commissioners within a reasonable time after sioners. their appointinent to ascertain as nearly as possible the number of legal voters in each of the hundreds and election districts in their respective counties, outside of the city of Wilmington, and if they shall be satisfied that the voters of any one hundred or election district will not be able to conveniently vote therein at the next succeeding election then the commissioners of the county in which such hundred or election district is located shall divide it into two or more election districts and shall establish the boundaries thereof. They shall also designate the place of holding the election Place of vot in each of the said newly established election districts and ingin new secure the room for the holding of the same. They shall also designate each of said districts by appropriate titles or distinctions. The inspector of such hundred or election district shall be the inspector of the district established by the division aforesaid in which he may reside at the time of the said division and the said commissioners shall appoint for the other newly established district or districts an inspec- Inspectors. tor or inspectors from the party to which the other in election dis tricts. |