General elections, when held. Officers elected. Qualification of electors. Persons disqualified. Soldiers and sailors. Privileges of electors. AN ACT To provide a general election law, the procedure relative to contested elections, and the filling of vacancies in office. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Nebraska : SECTION 1. The general election of this state shall be held on Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November of each year. SEC. 2. All state, district, county, precinct and township officers, by the constitution and laws made elective by the people, except school district officers, and municipal officers in cities and villages, shall be elected at a general election to be held at the time provided in the preceding section. SEC. 3. Every male person of the age of twenty-one years or upwards, belonging to either of the following classes, who shall have resided in the state six months, in the county forty days, and in the precinct, township, or ward ten days, shall be an elector, First. Citizens of the United States. Second. Persons of foreign birth who shall have declared their intention to become citizens conformably to the laws of the United States, on the subject of naturalization at least thirty days prior to an election. SEC. 4. No person shall be qualified to vote who is non compos mentis, or who has been convicted of treason or felony under the law of the state, or of the United States, unless restored to civil rights. SEC. 5. No soldier, seaman, or marine in the army and navy of the United States, shall be deemed a resident of the state in consequence of being stationed therein. SEC. 6. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elections, and going to and returning from the same, and no elector shall be obliged to do military duty on the days of election, except in time of war and public danger. elected. SEC. 7. One judge of the supreme court, and two officers to be regents of the university shall be elected in the year 1879, and every second year thereafter, who shall serve for the term of six years. Judges of the district court shall be elected in the year 1879, and every four years thereafter. The governor, lieutenant governor, congressmen, state treasurer, auditor of public accounts, secretary of state, attorney general, commissioner of public lands and buildings, superintendent of public instruction, one district attorney for each judicial district, and members of the legislature shall be elected in the year 1880, and every second year thereafter. In counties not under township organization, one county judge, one sheriff, one coroner, one county treasurer, one county clerk, one county surveyor, and one county superintendent of public instruction shall be elected in the year 1879, and every second year thereafter, and in each precinct two justices of the peace and two constables shall be elected in the year 1879, and every second year thereafter, and three judges and two clerks of election, one assessor and one overseer of highways for each road district shall be elected in the year 1879 and annually thereafter, and one county commissioner shall be elected annually, who shall serve three years. townships. In counties under township organization, one county In organized judge, one sheriff, one coroner, one county treasurer, one county clerk, one county surveyor, and one county superintendent of public instruction, shall be elected at the first general election after the adoption of township organization, and every second year thereafter. At the first general election in each township after the adoption of township organization, one supervisor, one town clerk, one town treasurer, three judges and two clerks of Presidential electors. Preference for election, one assessor, and one overseer of highways for each road district, shall be elected, and annually thereafter; and two justices of the peace and two constables shall be elected at said election, and every second year thereafter; and at the first general election after the adoption of township organization in any county, in each city, and in each village, one supervisor for every one thousand inhabitants therein, one assessor, three judges and two clerks of election shall be elected, and annually thereafter; and in each ward, and in each village having more than five hundred inhabitants, two justices of the peace and two constables shall be elected at said election, and every second year thereafter. In each county having a population of 8,000 inhabitants, or more, there shall be elected in the year 1879, and every four years thereafter, a clerk of the district. court in and for such county, and in each county having a population of less than 8,000 inhabitants the county clerk shall be ex-officio clerk of the district court, and perform all the duties devolving upon that officer by law. All county, precinct, and township officers created by statute, or that may be hereinafter created, shall be elected at such general elections as may be provided in the law creating the office or offices. SEC. 8. Electors of president and vice-president shall be elected at the general election in the year 1880, and every four years thereafter, on such day as congress may appoint, said electors to be chosen from the state at large. SEC. 9. At the general election immediately preceding the expiration of the term of a United States senator from this state, the electors shall, by ballot, express their preference for some person for the office of United States senator. The votes to be canvassed and returned in the manner hereinafter provided. SEC. 10. A county treasurer shall be ineligible to Ineligibility of office for more than two consecutive terms. county treasurer for three consecntive at terms. of governor. SEC. 11. Thirty days previous to any election which any state officer is to be elected, the governor Proclamation shall issue his proclamation designating all the offices to be filled by the vote of all the electors of the state, or by those of any congressional, legislative, or judicial district, and transmit a copy thereof by mail to the county clerk of each county. election. SEO. 12. At least twenty days previous to any elec- Notices of tion, the county clerk, in counties not under township organization, shall make out and deliver to the sheriff of his county, or in counties under township organization, to the several town clerks, and to city clerks in cities of the first and second class, three notices thereof for each precinct, township, or ward in which the election in such county is to be held. The notices shall be substantially as follows: "Notice is hereby given, that on Tuesday, the day of November next, at the house of in an election will be held for governor, etc., (naming all the state and other officers to be balloted for), which election will be open at eight o'clock in the morning, and will continue open until six o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. Form of notice notice. SEC. 13. The said sheriff, or town or city clerk to Posting of whom the notices are delivered, shall post up in three of the most public places in each precinct, township or ward, the three notices therefor, at least ten days before the time of holding any election. polls. SEC. 14. At all elections the polls shall be opened at Opening of eight o'clock in the morning, and close at six o'clock in the afternoon of the same day; but if the judges and clerks shall not attend at the hour of eight o'clock in Oath of officers of election. the morning, or if it shall be necessary for the electors present to appoint judges and clerks, or any of them, as hereinafter prescribed, the polls may in that case, be opened at any time before the time for closing the same shall arrive, as the case may require.. SEC. 15. Previous to any vote being taken, the judges Gen. Stat. 353. and clerks of election shall severally take an oath or affirmation according to the form prescribed in chapter on official bonds. By whom administered. Vacancies, how filled. Proclamation. Ballot box, how kept. SEC. 16. In case there shall be no judge or justice of the peace present at the opening of the polls, it shall be lawful for the judges of election to administer the oath or affirmation to each other and the clerks of election; and the person administering such oath or affirmation shall cause an entry thereof to be made and subscribed by him, and prefixed to each poll book. SEC. 17. In the event of any person or persons elected, or that have been appointed as herein provided for, shall not attend at the time and place of holding such election, the electors present shall choose the requisite number of persons to fill the respective offices of clerks and judges of election, and the person or persons thus chosen shall qualify as provided in the last two preceding sections. SEC. 18. Upon opening the polls, one of the judges of election shall make proclamation of the same, and at least thirty minutes before the closing of the polls proclamation shall be made in like manner that the polls will be closed in half an hour. SEC. 19. Before any ballot shall be deposited in the ballot box, the ballot box shall be publicly opened and exhibited, and the judges and clerks shall see that no ballot is in such box; after which the box shall be locked and the key delivered to one of the judges, and shall not be again opened until the close of the polls; and the ballot box shall not be removed from the view of the |