CHAPTER 390
RELATING TO MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN WILMINGTON
AN ACT TO AMEND SUBCHAPTER II OF CHAPTER 75 OF TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE, MAKING ALL THE PROVISIONS OF TITLE 15 APPLICABLE TO MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS HELD IN THE CITY OF WILMINGTON, DEFINING POLITICAL PARTIES, PROVIDING CERTIFICATION OF NOMINATIONS, DEVICE OF PARTY, BALLOTS, VACANCIES AFTER PRINTING OF BALLOTS AND CONTESTS OF ELECTIONS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware (two-thirds of all Members elected to each House concurring therein):
Section 1. That Sections 7529, 7530, and 7531 of Subchapter II of Chapter 75 of Title 15 of the Delaware Code, be and they are hereby repealed and stricken.
Section 2. That Section 7521 of Subchapter II of Chapter 75 of Title 15 of the Delaware Code be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
§ 7521. Elections in the City of Wilmington
From and after the passage of this Act, the registration, election and canvass of the vote cast at elections in the City of Wilmington for the Mayor, Council, and other officers of the City of Wilmington, shall in all respects be conducted in conformity with the provisions governing general elections as provided under Title 15 of the Delaware Code.
Section 3. That Section 7522 of Subchapter II of Chapter 75 of Title 15 of the Delaware Code be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
§ 7522. Political party defined; certificate of voters may be required, when
Any organization of bona fide citizens and voters in the City of Wilmington, which shall by means of a convention, primary election or otherwise, nominate candidates for offices to
be filled by the people of the City of Wilmington at elections held for the purpose of electing persons to the offices to be filled at any election held for said purpose shall be deemed and taken to be a political party within the meaning of this Act. No organization shall be taken as a political party that does not represent at least one hundred bona fide citizens and voters of the City of Wilmington. If the Department of Elections should have any doubt as to the sufficiency of the number of bona fide voters represented by any organization in the said City of Wilmington, they may demand a certificate of twenty-five voters belonging to such an organization as to that fact.
Section 4. That Section 7523 of Subchapter II of Chapter 75 of Title 15 of the Delaware Code be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
§ 7523. Nominations to be certified to department of elections; certificates must be in writing and acknowledged; title of party; figure or device
The nomination of the candidates for office to be filled by the electors in the City of Wilmington for the Mayor, Council, and other officers of the City of Wilmington, shall be certified to the Department of Elections aforesaid, by the presiding officer and secretary of the proper party convention or committee. The certificate shall be in writing and shall contain the name of each person nominated, his residence and the office for which he is nominated.
Section 5. That Section 7524 of Subchapter II of Chapter 75 of Title 15 of the Delaware Code be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows :
§ 7524. Device of party; restriction as to use; device of new party; devices prohibited; supplemental certificates, when filed
The same devices shall be used as are used at General Election; provided that if any new political party or parties shall be formed since the last preceding General Election and within twenty days prior to the holding of elections in the City
of Wilmington for the Mayor, Council, and other officers of the City of Wilmington, the said newly formed political party or parties shall present their device or devices properly certified to the Department of Elections within twenty days prior to the holding of the election in the City of Wilmington for the Mayor, Council, and other officers of the City of Wilmington. No device previously selected and used at a preceding election by another political party shall be used as the device or figure of a political party newly formed. Such figure or device may be a star, an eagle, a plow or some such appropriate symbol, provided, however, that the coat-of-arms or seal of the State, or of the City of Wilmington, or of the United States, or the flag of the United States, shall not be used as a figure or device of any political party. In case of death, resignation or removal of any candidate subsequent to nomination, a supplemental certificate of nomination may be filed by the proper officers as aforesaid. In case of a division in any party in the City of Wilmington or a ward thereof and claim is made by two or more factions to the same party name or title, figure or device, the Department of Elections within ten days after it has received the certificates of the contending factions, shall determine to which faction the name, title or figure properly belongs, giving the preference to the convention or primary election held at the time and place designated in the call of the regularly constituted party authorities; and if within five days thereafter, the other faction shall present no other party name or title, figure or device and certify the same to the Department of Elections, the latter shall select some suitable title, figure or device for said faction and the same shall be placed above the list of their candidates on the ballots. The certificates of nomination herein directed to be filed with the Department of Elections shall be filed not less than ten days before the day fixed by law for the election of the persons in nomination.
Section 6. That Section 7525 of Subchapter II of Chapter 75 of Title 15 of the Delaware Code be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
single ballot as prescribed by Title 15, § 4501 and to meet the requirements of Title 15, Chapter 50, Delaware Code.
Section 7. That Section 7526 of Subchapter II of Chapter 75 of Title 15 of the Delaware Code be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
§ 7526. Vacancies after printing of ballots or preparation of ballots for voting machines
In case of the death, removal or resignation of any candidate after the printing of ballots or preparation of ballots for use in voting machines, but before such election, it shall be lawful for the chairman of the city, ward or district political organization by which such candidate was nominated, to make a nomination to fill such vacancy and to provide the election officers with a number of pasters containing only the name of such candidate and for use on the ballots or in ballots used in voting machines ; and it shall be the duty of the clerks of election to put one of such pasters in a careful and proper manner and in a proper place on each paper ballot before such paper ballot may be used in such election or in the ballots for use in voting machines.
Section 8. That Section 7527 of Subchapter II of Chapter 75 of Title 15 of the Delaware Code be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
§ 7527. Contest of election
If any candidate for any of the offices before mentioned shall choose to contest the right of any person claiming to have been eletced to said office, the causes for such contests and all of the other provisions now set out in Chapter 59, Subchapter III, Title 15, Delaware Code, shall be applicable,. and all such contests shall be determined pursuant to all of the provisions of said Subchapter III, Title 15, Chapter 59, Delaware Code.
Section 9, That Section 7528 of Subchapter II of Chapter 75 of Title 15 of the Delaware Code be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
§ 7528. General provisions
All of the provisions of Title 15, Delaware Code pertaining to Elections, including registration of voters, Chapter 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, and 23, Primary Elections and Nomination of Candidates, Chapters 31 and 33, General Elections, Chapters 41, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55, and 57, of Title 15, Delaware Code, as well as Chapter 50 of Title 15, Delaware Code, shall be applicable to the holding of elections in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
Section 10. All Acts or parts of Acts which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed.
Section 11. If any word, sentence, paragraph, section or provision of this Act shall be declared unconstitutional by a competent Court, the other and remaining words, sentences, paragraphs, sections and provisions shall not be affected thereby but shall remain in full force and effect.
Section 12. Finding and declaration of legislative intent:
The General Assembly hereby finds, determines and declares as a matter of legislative intent that in enacting this Act the General Assembly intends in all respects to make applicable to the holding of elections in the City of Wilmington for the Mayor, Council, and other officers of the City of Wilmington, all of the provisions of Title 15, Delaware Code, as may be applicable thereto.
NOTE : This bill became a law on May 17, 1955, without the approval of the Governor and in accordance with Section 18, Article 3, of the Constitution of Delaware.