Number of ballots furnished. Voting places, booths, etc., act provided; on the back of such ballots shall be printed 265. SEC. 10. Said municipal clerk shall, prior to each primary election, at the time and as herein directed, provide and furnish for each existing political party, members of which have filed petitions as aforesaid, for the use of the voters at such primary, for each election district in his respective municipality, ballots of the kind and description aforesaid, equal to double the number of votes cast by such political party at the then last preceding election for members of the general assembly held in such election district; when an election district shall be divided or the boundaries thereof changed, or a new district created, the municipal clerk shall ascertain as nearly as may be possible the number of voters in the new or re-arranged or divided district, and provide therefor a sufficient number of ballots in the above proportion; no envelope shall be used at the primary elections held pursuant to this act. 266. SEC. II. At least twenty days before any prito be provided mary election shall be held under the provisions of this by municipal clerks. act, the clerks of the several municipalities of the state as may be proper, pursuant to this act, shall provide for and secure in each election district of their respective municipalities, a suitable room in which to hold the registry and the said primary election, and immediately on procuring said room, such clerk shall notify the registry or poll clerk, or board of registry and elections, of such voting district, that such room has been procured; and it shall be the duty of the clerk procuring such room to arrange the same for a polling room, in the manner required by law for general elections, and to have constructed therein and ready for use before the primary elections, booths and compartments of the kind, number and description as are or may be by law required to be provided at the annual election for members of the general assembly; black lead pencils shall be provided and placed in said booths or compartments for use by the voter in preparing his ballot to be voted, and no other kind of pencil shall be used for such purpose. Black lead furnished. pencils to be Delivery of ballot-boxes receipts ballots and and taking therefor. 267. SEC. 12. The said municipal clerk shall, on the morning of the day preceding any primary election, wherefore they are required by this act to provide ballots, cause to be delivered to the clerks of the board of registry and election of each election district within his municipality, the ballots and the ballot-boxes provided for each election district, and to take a receipt of each election clerk thereof, which last-mentioned receipt the clerk of such municipality shall file and preserve for the period of one year; said election clerks shall, on the morning of the primary election, before proclamation of the opening of the polls, deliver the ballots by them received to the election boards of their respective election districts, with the seals thereof unbroken, and shall take receipts therefor from said election board, which said receipts said election clerks shall file with the municipal clerk, and the same shall be preserved for one year; said municipal clerk shall provide a separate ballot-box for each political party for each election district in his respective municipality; said ballot-boxes shall be each Ballot-boxes, composed of four glass sides, at least one foot wide and constructed. one foot high, with a wood or metal bottom and top, and with an opening at the top through which the ballots shall be inserted into the box; any ballot-box which can legally be used at any general election for members of general assembly may be used at the primary elections held pursuant to this act. One ballot-box for each political party. how Primary elections conducted by boards of registry and election. When held. Amended, P. L. 1909, p. 163. Charge of ballot-boxes. All election officers to act. Proviso. Oath. 268. SEC. 13. The boards of registry and election appointed by the county boards of registry to conduct the registry under the act to which this act is a supplement, and the poll clerks appointed by such boards of registry and election shall, in their respective election districts, hold and conduct the primary election herein provided for. Such primary elections shall be held annually on the fourth Tuesday in September preceding the annual election for members of Assembly, except that in each year when a Governor is to be elected said primary elections shall be held on the second Tuesday of September, and shall, as nearly as may be, except as herein provided, be in all respects held and conducted as elections for members of the General Assembly are held and conducted. The two members of such board appointed from the political party which at the last preceding general election cast the largest number of votes in their county shall conduct the primary election of such party, having sole charge of the ballot-boxes of said party, and delivering, receiving and depositing the official ballots voted by members of such party, and having the sole right to challenge the voters offering to vote the ticket of such party as in this act provided; and the members of said board appointed from the political party casting the next largest number of votes in said county at said election shall, in like manner, conduct the primary election of such political party. All of the members of said board of registry and election shall conduct the primary election of any other political party holding a primary election under this act, and shall also ascertain and certify to the result of the primary election of all political parties holding primary elections under this act in the manner herein provided in section fifteen; provided, that before proceeding with such election each of the four members of the board of registry and election shall take and subscribe an oath to be administered by any duly qualified person, or by one mem challenge. ber of the board to the others, that they and each of them will, to the best of his understanding and ability, conduct such primary election honestly and in accordance with law; that they will challenge, in the manner provided in this act, the vote of any person offering to vote at such election whom they believe not entitled to vote thereat, and that they will also challenge the vote Right to of any person at such election offering to vote in the ballot-box of one existing political party, whom they believe, or have reason to believe to belong to another existing political party, and that they will refuse to receive the vote of such person, in case such vote is challenged, until he shall have taken an oath or affirmation, to be administered by a member of the board in the form prescribed in section seventy-four (74) of the act to which this act is a further supplement, and also in the following form: Form of oath when "You do solemnly swear (or affirm) that you are a member of the political party (specifying the challenged. political party to which the affiant claims to belong); that at the last election for members of the General Assembly at which you voted you voted for a majority of the candidates of said party whose names were printed on the ticket of said party, and that you intend to support the candidates of said party at the ensuing election." In the case of voters voting for the first time in this State the portion of said oath or affirmation in relation to voting at any previous election shall be dispensed with; and if the person so challenged shall refuse to take the oath or affirmation so tendered to him he shall be deemed not to be qualified or entitled to vote at such primary election. Any person making such oath or affirmation falsely shall be guilty of perjury. Any voter who shall be shown by the primary book hereinafter provided to have voted in the ballot-box of one political party at any primary election held under this act shall Perjury. Voter not to vote in box of other party election. at next Party primary books. not be allowed to vote in the ballot-box of any other political party at the next thereafter succeeding primary election. In addition to the registry lists hereinbefore provided, there shall also be kept two books or lists, one for each political party, which shall be called and labeled Republican Primary Book, and Democratic Primary Book, or as the case may be; the board of registry and elections shall cause the name of each voter at said primary to be written in ink, in the primary book of the party in whose ballot-box his vote is deposited; each of these primary books shall be signed by the members of the board of registry and elections and delivered by said board to the clerk of the municipality at the time of delivery of the ballot-boxes; said primary books shall be kept by said clerk until the ensuing primary election, and then delivered by him to the board of registry and elections for use at such ensuing election. At any primary election the members of the board conducting the primary election for each political party shall refuse to receive the vote of any voter offering to vote in the ballot-box of their political party, if the name of such voter appears in the primary book of the other political party as made up at the next previous primary election. The said primary books shall be kept by the municipal clerk subject to public inspection, and any voter whose name appears therein may apply to the judge holding the circuit court for his county, at any time prior to the next primary election to have his Its correction. name stricken from said book; and said judge shall have power to hear said application in a summary way, at such time and upon such notice to such persons as he may prescribe, and if satisfied that the applying voter's name has been improperly placed on said primary book, said judge may make an order directing the municipal clerk to erase said name from said primary book, and said clerk shall thereupon erase the Voter's name Books open to inspection. . |