CHAPTER 38.
OF ELECTIONS
AN ACT providing for the Registration of Voters.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
SECTION 1. In all elections for Governor, Senators, Representatives, Sheriffs, Coroners, or any other county or State officers, of Representatives in Congress or of Electors of President and Vice President, every male citizen of the age of twenty-two years and upwards, having resided in the State one year next before the election, and the last month thereof in the county where he offers to vote, and having within two years next before the election paid a county tax which shall have been assessed at least six months before the election, shall enjoy the right of an elector; and every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, and under the age of twenty-two years, having resided as aforesaid, shall be entitled to vote without payment of any tax; provided, that no person in the military, naval or marine service of the United States shall be considered as acquiring a residence in this State by being stationed in any garrison, barrack, or military or naval station within this State; and no idiot or insane person; pauper, or person convicted of a crime deemed by law felony, shall enjoy the right of an elector.
SECTION 2. That for the purpose of preventing fraud at such elections and facilitating the ascertainment of those each hundred or election district, who are duly qualified electors, according to the constitution and laws of the State, the Governor shall, at least six months before every general election, appoint in each hundred, or election distri61 where a hundred is divided into two or more election districts, in this State (outside the city of Wilmington) one capable person, who shall be a voter and resident in the district for which he shall be appointed, to be Registrar for the said hundred or election district. The terms of office of such Registrars shall begin on the third Tuesday of May next after their appointment and shall continue for two years thereafter, or until their successors shall be duly chosen and qualified. It shall also be the duty of the Governor, when appointing Alternate Registrars for the several hundreds or election districts of this State (outside the city of Wilmington), at the same time to appoint in each hundred or election district in the State (outside the city of Wilmington) one capable person, who shall be a voter and resident in the hundred or election district for which he shall be appointed, to be Alternate Registrar for the said hundred or election district. The term of office of said Alternate Registrar shall be the Term of same as that of the Registrar, and whenever any Registrar provided for by this at shall be incapable from any cause whatsoever of performing the duties required of him by this act, the Alternate Registrar in the same hundred or election district shall act in his stead, and while acting shall possess all the powers and do and perform all the duties of a Registrar, and make all the appointments hereinafter required to be made by the Registrar in certain contingencies. But nothing herein contained shall authorize or empower the Alternate Registrar to act at any time when there is a Registrar of the hundred or election district able and willing and present to act. If any such Registrar or Alternate Registrar shall remove from the hundred or election district for which he shall be appointed, or shall cease to be a voter therein, his office shall thereupon become vacant; and the Governor shall have power at any time to remove from office any Registrar or Alternate Registrar for incompetency, or misconduct, or because disqualified by sickness from performing the duties of his office. If any vacancy or vacancies should occur in the office of Registrar or Alternate Registrar before the expiration of such term, from any cause whatsoever, the Governor shall appoint a suitable person to fill such vacancy or vacancies, who shall serve for the residue of such unexpired term, and shall be qualified in the same manner, possess the same powers and perform the same duties as the original appointee.
Each Registrar and Alternate Registrar, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall take and subscribe, before the Clerk of the Peace of the county in which he shall reside, the following oath: I ___, residing in ___hundred, (or in ___ election district of ___hundred), in ___county, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America, that I will support the Constitution of the State of Delaware, and that I will perform the duties of the office of Registrar (or Alternate Registrar) for___ hundred (or ___ election district in ___ hundred), faithfully, honestly, fairly and impartially; that I am a citizen of the United States of America and of the State of Delaware, and am not and will not be a candidate for any office to be voted for by the electors of the hundred (or election district) for which I am appointed Registrar (or Alternate Registrar); and that I am a qualified voter in said hundred (or election district)."
SECTION 3. Each and every person appointed as aforesaid to act as Registrar or Alternate Registrar shall qualify as such Registrar or Alternate Registrar by taking and subscribing the oath prescribed in the preceding section within ten days after being notified of said appointment, and shall perform the duties of the office for the time for which he was appointed, unless he shall become disqualified by sickness or otherwise, or be removed from office as hereinbefore provided. But any Registrar or Alternate Registrar, who shall be appointed to fill a vacancy, shall qualify forthwith. And if any Registrar or Alternate Registrar, who being refusal to qualify or duly appointed, either for a full term or to fill a vacancy, failure to perform the shall refuse to qualify as aforesaid, or having qualified, shall duties of fail or refuse to perform any of the duties of said office, he office, shall forfeit and pay to the State a fine or one hundred dollars, upon conviction thereof by indictment in the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Jail Delivery in the county where such offense is committed.
SECTION 4. Each of the said Registrars shall in addition to the other powers hereinafter conferred upon him, have, during the respective times of his appointed sittings, the powers of a justice of the peace to preserve order and enforce obedience to his lawful commands at or around his place of registration; to keep access to such place open and unobstructed; to prevent and suppress riots, tumult, violence and disorder at, around or near to his place of registration, tending to intimidation, or to the obstruction of the work of registration, or of the revision of the registration, and to protect and keep safe the registers or books for the registration of voters hereinafter referred to while in his custody and possession. He may compel the presence of witnesses before him, while sitting as Registrar, for all purposes connected with the performance of the duties of his office, by summons and attachment; and shall have power to administer oaths and affirmations. He may, while sitting as such officer of registration, commit for trial any person committing, at or around his place of registration, a breach of the peace, or any offense forbidden by this aft He shall have the power to issue any of said summons, attachments or commitments, when sitting in any hundred or election district in this State (outside the city of Wilmington) to the Sheriff of said county or to any constable thereof. All such process shall be served by said officers in the same manner as if they were issued by a justice of the peace within such county.
The sheriff, or constable, in any county of this State, who shall serve any such process shall receive the same fees and in like manner as it is or may be by law provided that he shall receive fees in other State cases. But no Registrar shall charge or receive any compensation for any service rendered in accordance with the provisions of this section in addition to the compensation or salary provided for in Section 18 of this act.
SECTION 5. That it shall be the duty of the Governor to cause the following books to be prepared, at the expense of the State, for the use of the said Registrars, for the registration of names and facts required by this act, to wit:
First. Two books for each of said Registrars, to be known by the general name of Registers, and to be so arranged as to admit of the convenient entry of the following particulars:
First-The name of the person applying to be registered, written in full (or his first Christian name, and also any other name by which he is generally known, written in full, with the initial or initials of any other name or names which he may have in addition thereto);
Second- His color;
Third- His age;
Fourth- The place of his birth;
Fifth- The place of his residence, of street and number if any, and his post-office address;
Sixth- The time of his residence in the State, county, and hundred or election district in which he shall apply to be registered;
Seventh- If naturalized;
Eighth- If qualified voter;
Ninth- Date of payment of qualifying tax;
Tenth- May become a qualified voter by payment of tax, or by being naturalized;
Eleventh- If disqualified;
Twelfth- Date of application for registration;
Thirteenth- Remarks explanatory and supplementary.
Such Registers shall be uniform in their general character, shall be ruled in parallel columns, in which, opposite to the name of every applicant shall be entered the words and figures hereinafter provided for, and shall be of such size as to contain not less than 1500 names. The ruling and the heading in the above described Registers shall be substantially in the form following, to wit:
Second. Two books for each of said Registrars to be known by the name of "Voting Books of Qualified Voters," for alphabetical lists of all persons whose names may be entered on the Registers aforesaid as "qualified voters." Said books to be ruled in parallel columns and so arranged as to admit of the convenient entry, in alphabetical order, of the name of every person who may be entered on the Registers aforesaid as a "qualified voter," and in the parallel column opposite the name of such person the following particulars, to wit:
First- His residence;
Second- His color;
Third- His age, if to be between the age of twenty-one and twenty-two years on the day of the next general election.
And Third. Two books for each of said Registrars, to be known by the name of "Voting Books of Partially Qualified Voters," or alphabetical lists of every person whose name may be entered on said Registers as one who "may become qualified by the payment of tax, or by being naturalized." Said last mentioned books to be ruled in parallel columns and so arranged as to admit of the convenient entry, in alphabetical order, of the name of every person who may be entered on the Registers aforesaid as one who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," and in the parallel columns opposite the name of such person the following particulars:
First- His residence;
Second- His color.
SECTION 6. The Sheriff of each county shall, sometime in the month of August in the year of holding the general election, deliver to the Registrar of each hundred or election district of his county (outside of the city of Wilmington), the alphabetical list of the names of all the male citizens of the age of twenty-one years and upwards residing and assessed in his hundred or election district, which the said sheriffs are now required by Section 3, Chapter 18 of the Revised Code to deliver to the inspectors of elections, and shall at the same time deliver to each of the said Registrars two of the books known as Registers, two of the books known as " Voting Books of Qualified Voters," and two of the books known as " Voting Books of Partially Qualified Voters," hereinbefore provided for; which said books, addressed to the Registrar of each hundred or election district of the county, the Governor shall cause to be delivered to the sheriffs in each of the counties of this State on or before the first Tuesday in August in the year of holding the general election. And the said sheriffs, when delivering said list and books, shall also deliver to the Registrar of each hundred or election district in his county (outside the city of Wilmington) a stamp of not less than one inch in diameter, so arranged that when applied to a tax receipt it will produce the word "registered," the name of the hundred or election district, and also the day, month and year in letters and figures, and also shall deliver ink of a suitable kind to be used with such stamps. The said stamps shall be so arranged that the date may be changed. And the said sheriff shall procure said stamps and ink at the expense of the county in which he may be sheriff, to be paid as hereinafter provided.
SECTION 7. Each of the said Registrars, immediately upon receiving said Registers and "Voting Books of Qualified Voters" and "Voting Books of Partially Qualified Voters," shall endorse upon the back and write at the head of each Register and "Voting Book of Qualified Voters" and "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters," delivered to him as aforesaid, the name of the county and the name of the hundred or election district of such county of which he is Registrar, and of which such books shall respectively be the Registers and voting books as aforesaid. Registrars shall sit alone for the purpose of ascertaining and registering the persons who are or may become qualified to enjoy the right of an elector at the next General election, at such public and suitable places in their respective hundreds or election districts as will, in their judgment, be most convenient for the voters of their several hours of hundreds or election district, from eight o'clock A. M. until six o'clock P. M., with an intermission from twelve till one o'clock, on four successive Saturdays, beginning with the first Saturday in the September next preceding the general election. Each of said Registrars, at least ten days prior to his first sitting, as aforesaid, shall give public notice, by advertisement, posted in ten or more of the most public places in his hundred or election district, of the places where he will sit alone for the registration of voters as aforesaid, and the day or days when he will sit at each of said places. His proceedings shall be public and open to free inspection without any obstruction, but he may exclude or eject from the room any person behaving in a disorderly manner, and he may employ a clerk or clerics.
SECTION 8. It shall be the duty of the said Registrars, when sitting at the times hereinbefore specified for the purpose of ascertaining and registering the persons who are or may become qualified to enjoy the right of an elector at the next general election, to do and perform the several matters and things following, to wit:
First. Each of them severally shall record in his Registers in the column headed "name" the name of every male person who shall personally appear before him and apply to be registered (writing his surname and first Christian name in full, and also any other name by which he is generally known, with the initial or initials of any other name or names which he may have in addition thereto, the surname being written first). And the names of said applicants for registration shall be numbered consecutively in the order of their application, the number being entered on the Register in figures immediately before each name.
Second. In the column headed "color" he shall enter his color; and after making proper inquiries and examination he shall enter
Third. In the column headed "age" the age of the applicant.
Fourth. In the column headed "nativity" he shall enter the state, territory or country in which the applicant states he was born.
Fifth. In the column headed "residence" he shall enter his place of residence and post-office address.
Sixth. In the proper subdivision of the column headed "term of residence," bow long he has resided in the State, how long in the county, and how long in the hundred or election district in which he applies to be registered.
Seventh. In the column headed "naturalized" the words "yes" or "no," or "native," as the fact shall appear.
Eighth. In the column headed "qualified voter," if the Registrar shall be satisfied, upon examination or otherwise, that the applicant for registration is at that time a qualified voter, or by arriving at the age of twenty-one years, or by acquiring the residence required by the Constitution in this State and county by the next following general election will become a qualified voter at said election in the hundred or election district in which he applies to be registered, he shall write his name in full as written in the first column.
Ninth. In the column headed "date of payment of tax" he shall enter the day, month and year on which he has paid a county tax within two years next before the next following general election.
Tenth. In the column headed "may become qualified by conditional payment of tax, or by being naturalized," if the Registrar shall be satisfied, upon examination or otherwise, that the applicant for registration possesses all the constitutional qualifications of an elector, except that of the payment of a county tax as prescribed by the Constitution, he shall write his name in full, as written in the first column, and a line shall be heavily drawn in ink opposite his said name in the column headed "qualified voters." And if the applicant shall not at the time he applies to be registered have paid the county tax prescribed by the Constitution as one of the qualifications of an elector, and shall not have then resided within the State or county in which he applies to be registered the time required by the Constitution as one of the qualifications of an elector, but will have acquired such residence by the day of the next general election, the said Registrar shall write his name in full in the column headed "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," and a line shall be heavily drawn in ink opposite to his said name in the column headed "qualified voters." And if the applicant, not being a native born citizen of the United States, shall not at the time he applies to be registered have been naturalized, but will be entitled to be naturalized by the day of the next general election, and possesses all the other qualifications of an elector, the Registrar shall write his name in full in the column headed "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized, "and a line shall be heavily drawn in ink opposite to his said name in the column headed "qualified voters." And if the applicant, not being a native born citizen of the United States, shall not at the time he applies to be registered have been naturalized and shall not at that time have paid the county tax prescribed by the Constitution as one of the qualifications of an elector, but will be entitled to be naturalized by the day of the next general election, and possesses all the other qualifications of an elector, or will possess them by the day of the next general election, the said Registrar shall write his name in full in the column headed "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," and a line shall be heavily drawn in ink opposite his said name in the column headed "qualified voters."
Eleventh. In the column headed "disqualified," if the, Registrar is satisfied, upon examination or otherwise, that the applicant for registration is disqualified as an elector in the election district in which he shall apply to be registered, a line shall be heavily drawn in ink opposite his said name in the column headed "qualified voter,'' and the cause of his disqualification shall be briefly stated in the column headed "disqualified" opposite his name as first recorded, and a line shall be drawn across his name as first entered, but in such manner that said name shall remain legible.
Twelfth. In the column headed "date of application" he shall enter the day of the month and year on which application for registration is made.
Thirteenth. In the column headed "remarks" he may enter such facts or statements as he may deem pertinent to the qualification or disqualification of the applicant as an elector. In making the entries hereinbefore specified, the Registrar shall in every case make such entries in the columns above specified opposite the name of the applicant to whom such entries are intended to apply. If any Registrar should be in doubt, after the primary examination of the applicant for registration, and upon such evidence as may be immediately obtainable whether such applicant is a qualified elector, he may postpone his determination of the matter to his next sitting, or to a later sitting, at the request of the applicant; but such postponement shall not be in any case to a day later than the last day when the said Registrar sits alone for the purpose of registration as aforesaid.
SECTION 9. When any Registrar, at any of the sittings hereinbefore provided, shall enter in his Register the name of any applicant for registration as a qualified voter, he shall immediately thereafter enter, in the presence of such applicant if he remains in attendance, in its proper alphabetical place in the "Voting Book of Qualified Voters," hereinbefore provided for, the name of such applicant, and also his residence, and color, and his age, if he will be between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-two on the clay of the next following general election. And when he shall enter in his Register the name of any applicant for registration as one who "may become qualified by payment of tax," as hereinbefore provided for, he shall immediately thereafter enter, in the presence of such applicant if he remains in attendance, in the proper alphabetical place in the "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters," hereinbefore provided for, the name of such applicant, and also his residence and color. And the Registrar shall also give to each person who is registered either as a qualified voter or one who may become qualified, and who may request it, a certificate to the following effect:
___ Hundred (or ___Election District in ___ Hundred), ___county, State of Delaware.
Dated,___ day of, 18__
I do hereby certify that___ has this day been registered as a qualified voter (or one who may become qualified) in the hundred (or election district) above mentioned, and that his number on the Registers is number ___
Signed
Registrar for ___ Hundred (or ___Election District in ___Hundred)."
Each of said Registrars shall, within one week after his last sitting in September, as aforesaid, cause to be printed less than fifty copies of the alphabetical list of qualified voters as contained in the "Voting Book of Qualified Voters," together with the entries opposite the names in said books; and not less than fifty copies of the alphabetical list of those who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," as contained in the "Voting Books of Partially Qualified Voters," together with the entries opposite the names in said books; and shall, within the said week, cause one of said printed copies of each of said lists to be posted in at least ten of the most public places in his hundred or election district, and shall use the remaining copies in such manner as in his judgment will be most likely to secure publicity and general inspection.
SECTION 10. In addition to the Registrars hereinbefore provided for, there shall be in each hundred or election district a "Board of Registration," which board shall be composed of the Registrar for the hundred or election district, that one of the two persons who shall be chosen in the manner hereinafter provided to serve as judges of election in said district at the next following general election who shall not be of the same political party as the Registrar, and the inspector of said hundred or election district. The two persons associated with the Registrar shall be known as Associate Registrars. The said Registrar shall be the presiding officer of the Board, and as such presiding officer he shall have and possess all the powers conferred upon him by Section 4 of this act, and in his absence either of said associates shall have and possess all the powers which said presiding officer would have and possess if present.
The said Board of Registration shall sit from eight o'clock Hours of A. M. until six o'clock P. M., with an intermission from twelve till one, on the three Saturdays immediately preceding the Saturday next before the general election, at the place where the following general election will be held, or at some convenient and suitable place in the town or village in which such election will be held.
The Registrar shall produce and have before said Board of Duty of Registration, at all its sittings, the alphabetical list delivered to him by the Sheriff, as provided in Section 6 of this act, and also the Registers and the voting books containing the alphabetical lists of "qualified voters and the voting books containing the alphabetical lists of "partially qualified voters," made by him as hereinbefore provided. It shall be the duty of the said Board, at its sittings, to enter upon the said Registers the names of all persons applying to be registered who have omitted to make such application before the Registrar when sitting alone, and also the names of all persons who may have applied to the said Registrar, but whose names were not entered by him as required by this act.
It shall be the further duty of the said Board to correct on the Registers any mistakes which may have been made by the Registrar in any entry therein, either as to the name, or as to any other statement of fact; provided, however, that no correction shall be made upon the Registers except upon the personal or written application of the person in relation to whom such correction is made, or after written notice to him. It shall also be the duty of said Board, upon the personal Duties of application of any person who shall have been entered on the Registers by the Registrar as "a disqualified voter," and who may consider himself aggrieved thereby, to inquire into the matter, and if the said Board, after a hearing and examination, shall determine that such person has been improperly entered as a disqualified voter, the said Board shall enter his name anew in the Register, and shall also make opposite the name in the several columns the entries required to be made in other cases of applicants for registration adjudged qualified; and in the column headed "remarks," opposite his name when written anew, the said Board shall enter the words "adjudged qualified on revision by the Board," or "may be-come qualified by payment of tax," or "by being naturalized," or both, as the case may be, and the date when his qualification was determined as aforesaid.
Upon the affidavit of a legal voter in an election district, made before any person authorized by the laws of this State to administer oaths, and presented to the Board of Registration, that in his opinion any person is illegally registered in such election district as a qualified voter, or as one who may become qualified by payment of tax, and setting forth the reasons therefor, it shall be the duty of the said Board to examine into the matter of the registration of such person, and if said Board deem it a proper case for a hearing, notice shall be given to such person, either in person or in writing, as is hereinafter provided, to appear before the Board at its next sitting to show cause why his name should not be stricken from the voting books of "qualified" or "partially qualified voters" (as the case may be) of such election district. And, if upon examination and inquiry said Board shall be satisfied, at its sitting at which such person had notice to appear, that he is not a qualified voter, or one who may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized, or both, a heavy line shall be drawn in ink through his name as written in the column headed "qualified voter," and a line shall be drawn through his name as first entered, but in such manner that said name shall remain legible, and the causes of his disqualification shall be briefly stated in the column headed "disqualified," and in the column headed "remarks," opposite his said name, shall be written the words "adjudged disqualified on revision by the Board," and the date when his disqualification was ascertained as aforesaid.
It shall be the duty of said Board, at the time of entering in the Registers the names of any persons not entered by the Registrar at his sittings alone, to do and perform the same matters and things and to make the same entries in the Registers with the Registrar is required by Section 8 of this act to do and perform and make when any person applies to him to be registered. It shall also be the duty of the said Board, when they shall enter in the Registers as a "qualified voter," or as one who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized" the name of any applicant to said Board for registration, immediately thereafter to enter, in the presence of such applicant if he remain in attendance, in its proper alphabetical place in the "Voting Books of Qualified Voters," or in the "Voting Books of Partially Qualified Voters," (as the case may be) the name of such applicant, and also his residence, and color, and his ne, if he will be between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-two years on the day of the next following election.
It shall also be the duty of said Board to enter in the proper voting books in its proper place any corrections which the said Board may have made in the Registers as to the name, residence or color of any person whose name may be in said voting books. Whenever the said Board shall enter in the Registers the name of any person as a "qualified voter," or as one who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," who has been entered by the Registrar as a "disqualified voter," it shall be the duty of the said Board immediately to enter, in the presence of such voter if he shall remain in attendance, in its proper alphabetical place in the "Voting Books of Qualified Voters," or "Voting Books of Partially Qualified Voters," (as the case may be) the name of such voter, and also his residence, and color, and his age, if he will be between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-two years on the day of the next following general election.
Whenever the said Board shall have adjudged any person to be disqualified as a voter, whose name had been upon the Registers as a "qualified voter," or one who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," and shall have made the necessary corrections on the Registers, as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of said Board immediately thereafter to strike his name from the alphabetical list where his name may appear in said voting book by drawing a heavy line in ink through his said name and all entries opposite his name. And the said Board may employ a clerk or clerks.
SECTION 11. If any person registered as a qualified voter, or one who may become qualified by payment of tax in any hundred or election district in this State, shall, after vote he is so registered, remove from the county in which he is so registered to any other county in this State, he may apply in person to the Registrar or Board of Registration of the hundred or election district in which he is registered and have his name stricken from the Registers and from the Voting Books in which his name shall appear, and may obtain from said Register or Board of Registration a certified copy of the entries in the Registers relating to him, together with a certificate that his name has been stricken from the Registers and Voting Books, as aforesaid; and it shall be lawful for him, after his name shall be so stricken from said Registers and Voting Books, to cause himself to be registered in the hundred or election district of the county to which he may have removed upon producing the aforesaid certificate and copy of entries in said Registers, provided that by the next following general election he will have acquired in the county to which he has removed the residence required by the Constitution. And the Registrar or Board of Registration to whom such person may apply to have his name stricken from the Registers and Voting Books shall draw a line in ink through his name and all the entries opposite to his name in said Registers and Voting Books, and in the column in the Registers headed "remarks" shall enter "removed from this county into ________county," and shall prepare and deliver to him the certified copy of entries and the certificate aforesaid.
SECTION 12. The said Registrars when sitting alone, or tax receipt, any member of the said Board of Registration when sitting for the purpose of registration as aforesaid, may require any person applying to be registered as a qualified voter to produce his tax receipt, and if such person be registered as a qualified voter, the said receipt shall be immediately stamped with the word "registered," the name of the hundred or election district, and also the day, month and year of registering, in letters and figures, by means of the stamps provided for in Section sixth of this act.
SECTION 13. At every sitting of said Board two shall constitute a quorum and the acts of a majority of said Board shall be as valid as the acts of all of them. Their proceedings shall be public and open to free inspection without any obstruction but they may exclude or eject from the room any person behaving in a disorderly manner. Each of said Associate Registrars, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall take and subscribe the oath prescribed in Section two of this act for the Registrar, except that the words "Associate Registrar" shall be substituted for the word "Registrar." Which oath may be administered to the Associate Registrars by the Registrar, or by any Justice of the Peace or Notary Public in the county where such Associate Registrar may reside. In all cases where written notice is required by this act to be given to any person, such notice shall be deemed sufficient dent if addressed to the person to be notified at the post-office named by him at the time of his application for registration and deposited in the mail not later than the Wednesday next preceding the sitting of the Board at which he may be notified to appear.
SECTION 14. In order to fix and ascertain the persons who are to be the associate officers of registration, it shall be the duty of the inspector of each hundred or election district registration in this State (outside the city of Wilmington), and also of the person who at the election for inspector next previous received the next highest number of votes for said office, on some day in the month of September next preceding the general election, to choose respectively the two judges of the said election, as is required to be chosen by them respectively by Section II of Chapter 18 of the Revised Code; and shall respectively, during the said month of September, notify the said persons of their appointment in writing, and shall also, in the said month of September, give notice, in writing, to the Registrar of the hundred or election district of the persons so chosen.
If either the said inspector, or the person who at the election for inspector next previous received the next highest number of votes for said office be dead or removed from the county, or shall fail or neglect, from any cause whatsoever, to choose a judge of election in the said month of September, as hereinbefore required of them, or shall fail or neglect to give the notices hereinbefore required to be given by them to the persons so chosen by them respe6lively to the Registrar, or if either of the persons designated in Section 10 of this act as those who shall be associated with the Registrar as associate officers of registration shall fail or neglect to take the oath required of them by Section 11 of this act, or from any cause whatsoever shall fail to appear and act at any of the sittings of the said Board of Registration, then and in that event it shall be the duty of the said Registrar immediately to appoint another person to act as Associate Registrar, who shall be of the same political party as the person in whose place he is appointed shall be or would have been.
The person or persons appointed by the Registrar, as aforesaid, shall take and subscribe the oath hereinbefore prescribed for the Associate Registrars, shall possess and have the same powers as, and perform the same duties hereinbefore required of Associate Registrars until the person who may have been originally chosen shall have qualified and shall appear and enter upon the duties of the office to which he was originally chosen or appointed.
SECTION 15. It shall be the duty of the said "Board of Registration" immediately after the close of their last sitting, carefully to compare the two Registers and see that they agree with each other in every particular, and also to compare the two alphabetical lists of "qualified voters" and the two alphabetical lists of those who 'may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," or both, as contained in the voting books aforesaid, with the said Registers, and to see that the name of every person entered on the Registers as a "qualified voter" is entered in its proper alphabetical place on each of the two lists of qualified voters, together with the residence, and color, as entered on the Registers.
And if any name in the Registers which ought to have been entered on either of said alphabetical lists shall have been omitted therefrom, it shall be the duty of said board to enter such name in its proper alphabetical place on the proper alphabetical list, together with the proper entries as they appear on the said registers.
And it shall be the further duty, in such comparison of the alphabetical lists with the Registers, to make such corrections on the alphabetical lists as will make the names and entries appearing on the alphabetical lists agree with the same names and entries as entered on the Registers.
It shall also be the duty of the said Board of Registration, within three days after their last sitting, to append to each of said alphabetical lists of "qualified voters" contained in said "Voting Books of Qualified Voters" a certificate, verified by the oath or affirmation of the members of said board, or at least two of them, that the said "Voting Book of Qualified Voters" contains a complete list of the qualified voters of said hundred or election district, as the same are entered in the Registers of voters of such hundred or election district.
And shall also, within the three days aforesaid, append to each of said alphabetical lists of those who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," contained in the 'Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters," a certificate, verified by oath or affirmation, as aforesaid, that the said "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters" contains a complete list of those persons " who may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," as the same are entered in the registers of voters of such hundred or election district.
And the members of said Board shall, within the three days aforesaid, also append to the Registers of their respective hundred or election district a certificate 'that each of said Registers is the official Register of such hundred or election district, and, so far as is within their knowledge, no false or improper entries have been made therein. Which certificate shall be made and verified by at least two members of said Board.
And it shall be the duty of the Registrar, within one day thereafter, to deliver to the Sheriff of the county in which he is an officer of registration one of said Registers, certified to as aforesaid, and one of said "Voting Books of Qualified Voters," certified to as aforesaid, and one of said "Voting Books of Partially Qualified Voters," certified to as aforesaid, together with the alphabetical list which shall have been delivered to him by the said Sheriff, as hereinbefore provided.
And the other of said Registers, together with the other of said "Voting Books of Qualified Voters" and the other of said " Voting Books of Partially Qualified Voters," together with any other papers or documents relating to the registration of voters, and the stamps provided for by this act, he shall retain in his possession and safely keep, but the same shall at all proper times be open to the inspection of any one desiring to examine the same without fee or reward, and also any one desiring to do so may be permitted to make copies or partial copies of any of said lists, books, documents or papers.
And if the Registers or Voting Books delivered to the sheriff, as aforesaid, should be lost or destroyed, the duplicates in the possession of the Registrars may be called for and used, in the place of those lost or destroyed, at the general election.
And within one week after the following general election he shall deliver the same to the Clerk of the Peace of the county in which he resides, who shall safely keep the same in his office, and the same shall be open to public inspection at all convenient times as other public records in the office of said Clerk of the Peace.
SECTION 16. It shall be the duty of the sheriff of each county, within three days after the said Registers, Voting Books and lists shall have been delivered to him, as provided in the next preceding section of this act, to deliver the same to the inspector of the hundred or election district of the county to which such Register, Voting Books and list shall apply. And it shall be the duty of the inspector to have the same at the place of election before the opening of the polls on election day.
SECTION 17. The inspector shall not at any elation receive or deposit in the ballot-box of any person offering to vote until his name shall have been found in the list of "qualified voters," as contained in the "Voting Book of Qualified Voters," or in the list of those who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," or both, as contained in the "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters," delivered to him for the purposes of said election, and the judges, or a majority of them, shall be satisfied that the person so offering to vote is the person named in said list; and if his name shall have been found in the "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters" they shall be further satisfied that the person offering to vote has paid the tax required by the Constitution, and, if not a native born citizen of the United States, has been legally naturalized. And he shall receive and deposit in the ballot-box the ballot of every person offering to vote whose name appears in the "Voting Book of Qualified Voters," or whose name appears in the "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters," and who at the time he offers to vote shall have paid the tax required by the Constitution, and, if not a native born citizen of the United States, has been legally naturalized, unless such vote shall be objected to; but no objection to the vote of any per-son whose name shall have been found on either of said voting books shall be entertained or considered by the judges of the election except for the following reasons, to wit:
First. That he is not the person whose name appears in said voting books.
Second. If his name appears in the "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters" that he has not paid the tax required by the Constitution of this State, or, if not a native born citizen of the United States, that he has not been legally naturalized since he was registered.
Third. That he has become disqualified as a voter since he was registered; and
Fourth. That he was improperly registered at the last sitting of the Board of Registration as a 'qualified voter," or as one who "might become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized."
If a vote be objected to for any of the reasons above mentioned, its admission or rejection shall be determined according to the opinion of a majority of the judges.
It shall be the duty of one of the judges of the election to write the word " voted " against the name of any person voting on the alphabetical list in the voting book in which his name appears, which was certified to by the Board of Registration and delivered by the sheriff to the inspector as aforesaid, instead of upon the alphabetical list certified to by the Clerk of the Peace, as is now provided by Section 18, Chapter 18 of the Revised Code.
SECTION 18. Each inspector shall, on the Thursday next succeeding the day of the general election, deliver into the office of the Clerk of the Peace of his county the oaths or affirmations that shall have been signed by the inspector and judges of the election in his hundred, or election district where a hundred is divided into two or more election districts, and the certificates of said oaths or affirmations having been administered, to be made and signed as directed in Section 13, Chapter 18 of the Revised Code; and the two lists of the polls kept at the election, as directed in Section 18, Chapter 18 of the Revised Code; the alphabetical list certified to by the Clerk of the Peace; the Register aforementioned, and the "Voting Book of Qualified Voters," and the "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters," certified to by the Board of Registration as aforesaid, with the notes of "voted," as the same shall have been made on each of said last mentioned books on the day of the election; all of which shall be filed in the office of the said clerk, and shall be public records, and as such admissible as evidence.
SECTION 19. Each Registrar shall receive five dollars per day for each day of actual sitting, either alone or as one of the Board of Registration, and fifteen dollars additional for all other services to be performed by him under this act.
And each Alternate Registrar shall receive five dollars per day for each day of actual sitting in the place of the Registrar, either alone or as one of the Board of Registration, and also such additional compensation as may be determined by the Levy Court of the county in which he shall reside for any other service that may be performed by him under this act; provided that such additional compensation shall in no event exceed the sum of fifteen dollars; and provided further, that the amount of such additional compensation shall be deducted from the amount of the Registrar's additional compensation.
And each Associate Registrar shall receive five dollars per day of actual sitting on the Board of Registration.
It shall be the duty of the Levy Court in each of the counties of this State, at its November session, to ascertain the amount of compensation under this act due the Registrars, Alternate Registrars, and Associate Registrars in their respective counties, and when so ascertained, the president of the said Levy Court shall certify the same to the State Treasurer, who shall thereupon pay to the persons entitled the sums severally due them out of any money belonging to the State not otherwise appropriated.
The cost of printing and posting the alphabetical lists contained in the voting books aforesaid, and of printing and mailing the notices required by this act, and the rent of the room or rooms used by the said Registrars and Boards of Registration in performance of the duties required by this act, the cost of printing any forms or blanks that may be required, and the cost of the .necessary stationary used by them, and also the stamps and the ink to be used with the same, provided for by this act, shall be paid by the Levy Courts of the respective counties upon proper vouchers. The cost of the books provided for in Section 5 of this act shall be paid by the State Treasurer on warrants drawn on him by the Governor.
SECTION 20. If any Registrar, Alternate Registrar, or Associate Registrar, shall fraudulently enter, or fraudulently permit to be entered, in any Register, or in any list of "qualified voters," or in any list of those who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," the name of any person as a qualified voter, or one who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," who is not entitled to be entered therein as a "qualified voter," or as one who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," or both, or if any other person not authorized by the proper officer of registration shalt enter in any Register, or in any "Voting Book of Qualified Voters," or in any "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters," the name of any person as a "qualified voter," or as one who "may become qualified by the payment of tax, or by being naturalized," or both; or if any Registrar, Alternate Registrar, or Associate Registrar, shall fraudulently refuse or omit to register, or shall fraudulently misspell in any Register, or in any "Voting Book of Qualified Voters," or in any "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters," in his charge, the name of any person entitled under the provisions of this act to have his name entered in such Register or "Voting Book of Qualified Voters" or "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters ;" or if any Registrar, Alternate Registrar, or Associate Registrar, shall fraudulently strike from any Register or from either of said voting books in his charge the name of any person entered therein; or if any other person not authorized by the proper officer of registration shall strike from any Register or from any voting book the name of any person entered thereon; or if any Registrar, Alternate Registrar, or Associate Registrar, shall make any entry or entries in the said Registers, or said "Voting Books of Qualified Voters" or "Voting Books of Partially Qualified Voters," except at the times and in the manner hereinbefore provided; or if any Registrar, Alternate Registrar, or Associate Registrar, shall do anything which is by this act forbidden to be by him done, or shall omit to do anything which is by this act required to be by him done, lie shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof by indictment, shall be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not exceeding three years, or may be both fined and imprisoned at the discretion of the Court.
SECTION 21. If any person shall cause or attempt to cause himself to be registered in the name of any other person, living or dead, or under any fictitious name, or shall to be cause or attempt to cause himself to be registered in any hundred or election district in this State, knowing that he has not the right to be registered; or if any person, knowing himself to be registered in any hundred or election district in this State shall cause or attempt to cause himself to be registered in any other hundred or election district in this State without having first caused his name to be stricken from the Registers and voting books in which he may have been previously entered; or if any person, knowing himself to be disqualified as a voter at the next following general election shall cause or attempt to cause himself to be entered on the Registers in any hundred or election district in this State as a "qualified voter" therein, or as one who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," knowing that he is not at that time a qualified voter and will not become so by the next following general election; or if any person shall by force, threat, menace, intimidation, or other unlawful means, prevent or hinder any person having a lawful right to have his name entered on the Registers in any hundred or election district in this State, from duly exercising such right, or shall compel or attempt to compel, by any such means, any Registrar, Alternate Registrar, or Associate Registrar, to enter on his Registers the name of any person not legally entitled to be entered therein, or shall unlawfully interfere with any Registrar, Alternate Registrar, or Associate Registrar, in the discharge of his duties under this act; or if any person shall make any assault or commit any assault and battery, or incite or create any riot or any breach of the peace at or near to any place of registration in this State, during the sitting of any Registrar, Alternate Registrar, or Board of Registration; he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof by indictment shall be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not exceeding three years, or may be both fined and imprisoned at the discretion of the Court.
SECTION 22. If any Clerk of the Peace, Sheriff, Registrar, Alternate Registrar, Associate Registrar, inspector, or judge of election, shall loose any Register or Voting Book which may be in his charge or custody, or if any of such officers or any other person shall willfully destroy, mutilate, deface, falsify, or fraudulently remove or secrete any Register, or Voting Book, or shall knowingly make any false entry in, or false copy of any Register or part or any Register, or shall fraudulently make any entry, erasure or alteration in any alphabetical list of qualified voters, as contained in any "Voting Book of Qualified Voters," or in any alphabetical list of those who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," contained in any "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters," he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof by indictment shall be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not exceeding three years, or may be both fined and imprisoned at the discretion of the Court.
SECTION 23. If any person shall mutilate, deface, pull down or destroy, at any time before the last sitting of the Board of Registration, any printed copy of the "alphabetical list of qualified voters," or any printed copy of the alphabetical list of those who "may become qualified by payment of tax, or by being naturalized," when the said lists are posted and hung up as provided in Section 9 of this act, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof by indictment shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding one year, or may be both fined and imprisoned at the discretion of the Court.
SECTION 24. In any case of a special election held in this State, it shall be the duty of the several Boards of Registration, hereinbefore provided for, to sit on the two Saturdays immediately preceding the Saturday next before the day of such special election, from eight o'clock A. M., until six o'clock, P. M., with an intermission from twelve till one, at the place where the following special election will be held, or at some convenient and suitable place in the town or village in which such election will be held; and at such sittings to add to the Registers or Voting Books aforesaid of their respective hundreds or election districts the names of all persons applying to them who may have become qualified to vote since the day of the last general election, or who may become qualified to vote by the day of such special election.
And it shall be the duty of such Boards of Registration, in adding any new name, to make the same entries in the Registers and Voting Books aforesaid as they are hereinbefore required to make when sitting as a Board of Registration before any general eIection. And said Boards of Registration shall have the same powers and do and perform the same matters and things as when sitting as a Board of Registration before any general election. And any vacancy or vacancies in any of said Boards of Registration shall be filled as hereinbefore provided.
The said Boards of Registration, within one week before their first sitting as provided for in this section, shall procure from the Clerks of the Peace of their respective counties the two Registers and the two "Voting Books of Qualified Voters" and the two "Voting Books of Partially Qualified Voters," which shall have been delivered to the Clerks of the Peace as hereinbefore provided.
It shall be the duty of the Clerks of the Peace in the several counties to deliver said books to the said Boards of Registration when the same shall be applied for as aforesaid.
In delivering one of the Registers and one of the "Voting Books of Qualified Voters" and one of the "Voting Books of Partially Qualified Voters" to the Sheriff, to be by him delivered to the inspectors as hereinbefore provided, it shall be the duty of said Boards of Registration to deliver the Register and the "Voting Book of Qualified Voters" and the "Voting Book of Partially Qualified Voters" which were not used at the previous general election. And the other of said Registers, and the other of said "Voting Books of Qualified Voters," and the other of said "Voting Books of Partially Qualified Voters," shall be delivered by the several Registrars to the Clerks of the Peace of their respective counties within one week after such special election.
At every special election the same provisions of law in this act contained as to voting and challenging and entering the word "voted" after the names of those who may vote, shall apply, as at a general election.
SECTION 25. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with or superseded by the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. And this act shall not apply to the City of Wilmington.
SECTION 26. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to cause to be printed and prepared in pamphlet form five hundred copies of this act; and when the Registrars provided for in this act shall have been appointed by the Governor, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to send to each Registrar three of said pamphlets, one for his own use and the other two for the use of his Associate Registrars. And the Secretary of State shall also send one pamphlet to each Alternate Registrar appointed by the Governor.
The cost of printing and preparing the pamphlet copies of this act shall be paid in the same manner as is now provided by law for the payment of the printing of the laws passed at each session of the Legislature.
Passed at Dover, May 13, 1891.