CHAPTER 37.
OF ELECTIONS
AN ACT to provide for the Secrecy and Purity of the Ballot.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
SECTION 1. That hereafter it shall be the duty of each inspector of elections in this State, outside of the city of Wilmington, to provide a room for the holding of any general or special election in his hundred or election district which shall be adapted to the requirements of this act. Said room shall be at the place now or which may hereafter be established by law in each hundred or election district for the holding of elections, or in as close proximity thereto as practicable, having due regard to the convenience of the voters. Provided, however, that if any inspector shall select a place for the holding of any general or special election in his hundred or election district, other than the one established by law, he shall do it in time to give the notice of holding such election required by law. Said room shall have a door or entrance of easy or convenient access, and if practicable, a separate means of exit. It shall be provided on the outside with a passage at least four feet wide and with a railing, rope or wire on each side commencing at least thirty feet away from and leading to the entrance to such place of election and passing the place assigned for the challengers and thence to the entrance of the room in which the election is held.
The inspector shall provide for the room a railing therein separating the part of the room to be occupied by the election officers from the remainder of the room. He shall also provide a suitable table and chairs for the use of the election officers. The table shall occupy such a position in said room as to enable the election officers and the challengers hereinafter provided for to easily communicate with each other.
He shall cause to be constructed in the room at least one booth for every one hundred and fifty voters or fractional part thereof in each hundred or election district; provided that there shall not be less than three booths at any one hundred or election district. The booths shall be at least three feet square and six feet high if the ceiling will admit it. They shall each contain a shelf properly constructed and provided with pen and ink and they shall be so constructed and arranged that all the election officers in the room can see whether more than one voter enters any one of them at any one time. In the city of Wilmington it shall be the duty of the Department of Elections to select the voting place in each in the election district within the city and to provide the room in providing which the election is to be held and to protect the same with the required railing or rope and to construct therein the necessary number of booths and to do all other things required to be done by the inspectors of election outside of the city of Wilmington in and about the furnishing and fitting up of said room.
SECTION 2. Each of the political parties may select and accredit some suitable person as a challenger to stand without the door or entrance of the room in which the election is to be held, and by the side of the passage hereinbefore provided for; and in case of failure of any or all of the political parties to select such person or persons as challenger or challengers it shall be the duty of the inspector and judges to make such selection or selections, provided that the challengers may be changed and their places filled in like manner during the day.
SECTION 3. A political party within the meaning of this act shall be an organization of bona fide citizens and voters of any county in this State which shall by means of a convention, primary election or otherwise, nominate candidates for public offices to be filled by the people at any general or special election within the State. No organization shall be regarded as a political party that does not represent at least one hundred bona fide citizens and voters of the county in which it exists. If the Clerk of the Peace should have any doubt as to the sufficiency of the number of bona fide represented by any organization in any county, he may demand a certificate of twenty-five voters belonging to such an organization as to that fact.
SECTION 4. The Clerks of the Peace for the several Clerks of counties shall cause to be printed on the ballots, herein provided for, the names of the candidates nominated by the parties recognized by them as political parties within the meaning of this act. The nomination of the candidates for the office of Governor, Representatives in Congress and Presidential Electors shall be certified to the several Clerks of the Peace by the presiding officer and secretary of the several State party conventions or committees, and the nominations of the candidates for the county, hundred and district offices shall be certified to the respective Clerks of the Peace of the county in and for which such nominations have been made 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. The persons making such certificate shall add to their signatures their respective places of residence and shall acknowledge said certificate before an officer duly authorized to take acknowledgments of deeds, and a certificate of such acknowledgment shall be affixed to the instrument.
The certificate shall also designate a title for the party which such convention or committee represents together any simple figure or device by which its list of candidates may be designated on the ballot. Provided that the figure or title or device selected and designated by the State convention or committee of any party shall be used by that party throughout the State; only one figure or device shall be used by a party at any election. The same title, figure or device shall not be used by more than one party, and the party first certifying a name, title, figure or device to the Clerks of the Peace shall have the prior right to use the same. Such figure or device may be the figure of a star, an eagle, a plow, or some such appropriate symbol, but the coat of arms or seal of the State, or of the United States, or the flag of the United States, shall not be used as such figure or device. 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 of the State, county, district or hundred committees. In case of a division and factions in any party and claim by two or more factions to the shall use parties, who same party name or title, figure or device, if the division occurs at a State convention, or extends throughout the State, the, Clerks of the Peace of the several counties shall, within ten days after any one of them has received the certificates of the contending factions, assemble in the office of the Clerk of the Peace at Dover and determine which faction the name, title or figure properly belongs to, giving the preference to the convention 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 Clerks of the Peace the latter shall again immediately assemble and 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. If the certificate of the contending factions shall not be received by the Clerks of the Peace in time for them to assemble at Dover before publishing the device and list of candidates in the newspapers, then and in that case each Clerk of the Peace shall determine for himself which faction shall be entitled to the name, title, figure or device and shall select a name, title, figure or device for the other faction. Provided that in case of division in any party extending only throughout a county, district or hundred, the Clerk of the Peace of the County in which such division occurs upon the receipt of certificates from the contending factions shall determine which faction is entitled to the party name, figure or device and to have their nominations printed in the proper party column, and should the other faction fail to do so the Clerk of the Peace shall select for them a name or title, figure or device.
SECTION 5. The Clerks of the Peace of the several counties shall cause to be preserved in their respective offices of all certificates of nominations filed under the provisions of nominations this act for six months after the date of the filing thereof.
SECTION 6. Certificates of nominations herein directed to be filed with the Clerks of the Peace shall be filed not less than twenty clays before the day fixed by law for the election of the persons in nomination. SECTION 7. At least ten days before an election to fill any public office the Clerk of the Peace of each county shall cause to be published in at least two newspapers within his county the nominations to office certified to him as directed in Section 4. He shall make no less than two publications in each of such newspapers before election. Such publications shall be made in two newspapers representing the two principal political parties. Provided, that in all cities where a daily newspaper is published such notice shall also be published in two daily papers representing such political parties, if such there be. The lists of nominations published by the Clerk of the Peace shall be arranged as far as practicable in the order and form in which they will be printed upon the ballots and shall designate the devices under which the lists of candidates of each party will be printed. The Clerk of the Peace shall not include in the publication to be made according to this section the name of any candidate whose certificate of nomination shall have been filed in his office who shall have notified him in writing duly signed and acknowledged that he will not accept the nomination. The names of such candidates shall not be included in the names of the candidates to be printed on the ballot as hereinafter provided.
SECTION 8. The Clerk of the Peace in each county shall cause the names of all candidates to be voted for in his print county and the several hundreds or districts in the same to be printed in parallel columns on one ballot, all nominations of any party being placed under the title and device of such party as designated by its authorized agent or agents in the certificate or certificates; or if none be designated under some suitable title and device to be selected by the Clerk of the Peace. The ballots shall be of uniform size and of the same quality and color of paper and sufficiently thick that the printing cannot be distinguished from the back. The arrangement of the ballot shall in general conform as nearly as possible to the plan hereinafter given and the device named and chosen and the list of candidates of the democratic party shall be placed in the first column on the left hand side of said ballot; of the Republican party in the second column and of any other party in such order as the Clerk of the Peace shall decide.
SECTION 9. In case of the death, removal or resignation of a candidate after the printing of such ballots and before such election, it shall be lawful for the chairman of the State, county, hundred or district political organization by which such candidate was nominated to make a nomination to fill such vacancy and to provide the election officers of each election district in which such candidate is to be voted for with a number of posters containing only the name of such candidate at least equal to the number of ballots provided for each election district, but no posters shall be given to or received by anyone except such election officers and such chairman, and it shall be the duty of the clerks of election to put one of such posters in a careful and proper manner and in the proper place in each ballot before they shall sign their initials thereon.
SECTION 10. If the printer of such ballots or any person employed in printing the same shall give or deliver or, knowingly permit to be taken any of said ballots by any person other than the Clerk of the Peace for whom such in any ballots are being printed or shall print, or cause or permit to be printed any ballot in any other form than the one prescribed by this act or with any other names thereon than those authorized by the Clerk of the Peace or with the names spelled or the names or devices thereon arranged in any other way than that authorized and directed by the said Clerk of the Peace, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail not less than one nor more than five years or both at the discretion of the Court.
SECTION 11. The Clerk of the Peace in each county shall cause to be printed within the State of Delaware in the form hereinbefore provided four ballots for every voter in each hundred or election district in his county, and the number of voters shall be ascertained in each hundred or election district by reference to the highest number of votes polled therein at any preceding election with due allowance for any estimated increase thereof. If a new election district has been established in his county the number shall be estimated by said Clerk of the Peace according to the best information he can obtain. The Clerk of the Peace shall cause the ballots for each Packages a hundred or ele6tion district to be carefully wrapped and tied ballots in two packages each containing the same number of ballots, which packages shall be plainly marked and securely sealed with wax. The Clerk of the Peace in each county shall also provide and enclose in each of said sealed packages one stamp for every three hundred ballots contained in the package, bearing a (*) or such other device as he may select together with ink pads or other necessary apparatus ready for use.
SECTION 12. It shall be the duty of each inspector of election outside of the city of Wilmington to appear at the office of the Clerk of the Peace of his county on the day preceding the election before the hour of three o'clock in the afternoon and the Clerk of the Peace shall deliver to him one of the sealed packages of ballots and stamps for his hundred or election district and the said inspector shall safely keep the said package and produce the same at the place of election and at the time of the opening of the election, provided, however, that in case there shall be a vacancy in the office of any inspector on the day preceding the election or any inspector for any cause shall not apply to the proper Clerk of the Peace for the package of tickets printed for his hundred or election district by the hour of three o'clock in the afternoon of the day preceding the election the said Clerk of the Peace shall deliver said package to some trusty person who shall deliver it on the day of the election to the inspector of election of such hundred or election district at the place of election and immediately upon the qualification of the election officers.
In the city of Wilmington it shall be the duty of the President of the Department of Elections or in case he cannot attend some other member of the Department of Elections authorized in writing by the President of the Department of Elections to appear at the office of the Clerk of the Peace of New Castle county on the day preceding each election on or before the hour of three o'clock in the afternoon and the said Clerk of the Peace shall deliver to him one of the sealed packages and stamps for each election district in the city of Wilmington. And the said department of elections shall safely keep the same and deliver to each board of election officers at the polling place on the day of the election at the time provided by law for the delivery of the ballot boxes the ballots intended for their several and respective districts
SECTION 13. Any inspector or any other election officer or other or any other person whatever who shall break any package containing ballots and stamps or take any ballot therefrom, package containing or suffer the same to be done by another, before the opening of the election shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof by indictment shall be fined not less than three hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars and may at the discretion of the court be imprisoned for a term not less than one year nor more than two years.
SECTION 14. If by any accident or casualty the ballots delivered to any inspector or other person by any Clerk of the Peace shall be lost or destroyed it shall be the duty of such person having such packages in his custody to report the loss at once to the Clerk of the Peace from whom the same were obtained and make affidavit of the circumstances of the loss whereupon such Clerk of the Peace shall at once re-supply such person. In case such person having in custody said package fails or refuses to report and make proof of the loss, any qualified elector may do so, and thereupon such Clerk of the Peace shall at once send a new supply by some trusty person as provided in other cases. In case, for any reason, there should be found no ballots or other necessary means or contrivances for voting, at the opening of the election it shall be the duty of the election officers at such election place to secure the same as speedily as possible, and, if necessary, such election officers shall have ballots printed or written; provided, however, that such ballots shall conform as nearly as possible to the official ballots and the printing and the preparation and the care of the same shall be under the same provisions and penalties as the printing and the care of the other ballots prescribed in this act.
SECTION 15. At the opening of the election, after the qualification of the several officers and in the presence of 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 to write their initials, in ink, on the lower left hand corner 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 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.
SECTION 16. The Clerk of the Peace of each county shall cause to be printed in large type on cards, in English and 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 cause to be posted one of each of said cards in each place 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 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.
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 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 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.
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 Ile 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 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 which may be unoccupied and indicate the candidates for whom he desires to vote by stamping the square immediately preceding their names: Provided, however, that if he shall 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 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 in the printed ballot shall be made by pen and ink only. Before leaving the booth or compartment 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 of the other election officers deposit the same in the ballot box; and the clerks of the election shall write the word "voted" after the name of the voter on the poll list: Provided, however, that if any elector shall show his ballot, or any part thereof to any other person after the same shall have been marked, so as to disclose any of the candidates 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 to whom a ballot and stamp, or either, have been delivered shall be permitted to leave the room without voting the and 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 room with the ballot or stamp in his possession shall be at once arrested on demand of an election officer.
SECTION 20. Not more than one person shall be permitted 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 election room at any one time, and no voter or person offering to vote shall hold any conversation or communicate with any other person than an election officer while in the election room.
SECTION 21. Any person who shall by accident or mistake, spoil, deface, or mutilate 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 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 for a false declaration under the provisions of this section shall upon conviction be fined in any sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, and any voters' assistant who shall deceive assistant deceiving 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.
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 hereinbefore 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 remove a ballot or stamp from the election room, or have in his possession outside of the election room any ballot or room, or having any stamp either genuine or counterfeit, during the election shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars and not more than five hundred dollars or may be imprisoned for a term not exceeding two years and not less than one.
SECTION 25. That the election officers, including the voters' assistants, before entering upon the duties of their 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 thereof by indictment he shall in addition to the penalties 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.
SECTION 26. That the Governor be and he is hereby Governor to authorized and empowered to appoint three commissioners for each of the counties of this State, one of whom in each country shall be of a member of a political party opposite to the one of which the other two are members. It shall be the duty of said commissioners within a reasonable time after their appointment 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 in each of the said newly established election districts and 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 inspector or inspectors from the party to which the other inspector belongs. The duties herein imposed upon the commissioners aforesaid shall be performed by the first day time of March, A. D. 1892, and a report of their proceedings certified to the Clerk of the Peace of the proper county. The election districts so established and certified by the commissioners shall be election districts of the respective counties and shall remain such until altered or changed by law and all the laws applicable to the election districts shall be applicable to them.
SECTION 27. In the counting of the votes any ballot which is not endorsed with the initials of the clerks of the election as provided in this act, and any ballot which shall bear any distinguishing mark shall be void and shall not be counted, and any ballot or part of a ballot from which it is impossible to determine the elector's choice of candidates shall not be counted as to the candidate or candidates affected thereby; provided, however, that such ballots and all disputed ballots shall be preserved by the inspector and at the close of the count placed with the seals of the ballot packages in the box into which the ballots shall have been put when read. The election officers shall also record on the tally list memoranda of such ballots and the condition of the seal of the ballot packages; and in any contest of election such ballot and seals may be submitted in evidence. Immediately on closing the polls all the ballots remaining unvoted or unused shall be counted and destroyed by the election officers of the several hundreds or election districts by totally consuming by fire, and the election officers shall certify the number of ballots so destroyed by them on the respective tally lists. The several Clerks of the Peace shall preserve the ballots left over in their hands after supplying the hundreds and election districts, as hereinbefore provided, until six o'clock P. M. of the day of election, and shall then count and destroy, by totally consuming by fire, all of such ballots but one, which he shall preserve in his office as a record together with his certificate of the number of ballots counted and destroyed by him.
SECTION 28. If any Clerk of the Peace or his clerk or any one acting for him shall neglect or refuse to have the ballots and stamps printed and prepared according to the provisions of this act, or shall neglect or refuse to deliver this them in time to the parties properly entitled to receive them, or shall neglect or refuse to do or perform any other duty in and about the preparation and distribution of the ballots and stamps required to be done and performed by him by the provisions of this act, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not less than one nor more than five thousand dollars and he may in the discretion of the Court be imprisoned for not less than one nor more than five years.
SECTION 29. If any person being an election officer or a voters' assistant shall reveal to any person how any elector has voted or what person or persons were voted for by him on any ballot or give any information concerning the appearance of any ballot voted, such person or persons so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof by indictment shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars and shall be imprisoned not less than two years and not more than five years.
SECTION 30. Any person who shall falsely make or fraudulently deface or fraudulently destroy any certificate of nomination, or any part thereof; or file any certificate of nomination knowing the same or any part thereof to be falsely made; or suppress any certificate of nomination which has been duly filed or any part thereof; or forge or falsely make the official endorsement of any ballot; or print or cause to be printed any imitation ballot or circulate the same; or conspire with others to do any of said ass, or induce or attempt to induce any other person to do any of said acts whether or not said acts or any of them be committed or attempted to be committed, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned in the discretion of the court not more than five years.
SECTION 31. If any Clerk of the Peace, inspector of election, clerk or judge of elections or trusty person or voters' assistant shall willfully violate any of the provisions of this act in the performance of any duty herein imposed upon him for the violation of which no other punishment is herein provided he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than three nor more than five hundred dollars and may in the discretion of the court be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three years.
SECTION 32. The Sheriff shall make the ballot boxes and the tally lists and all other papers to be delivered to the several inspectors conform to the requirements of this act. The inspector or the trusty person for his services in receiving and delivering at the place of bolding the election as aforesaid the packages containing the ballots and stamps shall receive two dollars.
SECTION 33. If any person not herein authorized so to do shall enter or attempt to enter the election room, or enter or attempt to enter within the railing leading to the entrance of the election room, or shall remain within thirty feet of the polling place contrary to the provisions hereinbefore made, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof be fined not more than two hundred dollars.
SECTION 34. If any person shall induce or attempt to induce any elector to write, paste or otherwise place on his ballot the name of any person or any sign or device of any kind as a distinguishing mark by which to indicate to any other person how such elector has voted, or shall enter into or attempt to form any agreement or conspiracy with any other person to induce or attempt to induce electors or any electors to so place any distinguishing mark or name on his ballot whether or not said act be committed or attempted to be committed, such person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction be imprisoned for not exceeding two years.
SECTION 35. If any person shall induce or attempt to induce any election officer to violate any of the provisions of this act whether or not such election officer shall violate or attempt to violate any of the provisions of this act, such person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction shall be imprisoned for a term not exceeding five years. It shall be the duty of each inspector to distinctly read this and the preceding section to the election officers at the opening of the polls and each member thereof shall thereupon take an oath that he has not violated and will not violate the provisions of said sections.
SECTION 36. Any person who shall during the election remove or destroy any of the supplies or other conveniences placed in the booths as aforesaid or delivered to the voter for the purpose of enabling the voter to prepare his ballot, or shall during an election remove, tear down or deface the cards printed for the instruction of the voters, or shall, during an election destroy or remove any booth, railing or other convenience provided for such election, or shall induce or attempt to induce any person to commit any of such acts whether or not any such acts are committed or attempted to be committed, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than one year.
SECTION 37. The commissioners for dividing the hundreds or election districts shall receive two dollars per day for actual services rendered by them; provided that no commissioner shall receive more than the sum of twenty-five dollars. The fees of the commissioners and all necessary costs and expenses incurred by the inspector and Clerks of the Peace in carrying into effect the provisions of this act shall be paid as other county expenses are paid.
SECTION 38. This act shall apply to all municipal elections held in the city of Wilmington except the election to be held. on the sixth day of June, A. D. 1891, but it shall not apply to the special election to be held on the third Tuesday in May, A. D. 1891, nor to the election for members of the Board of Education in the city of Wilmington.
SECTION 39. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.
Passed at Dover, May 15, 1891.