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Of varying politics.

Clerks of elec

tion.

Officers.

and in due time therefor, to appoint three judges for each and every voting place in their county, to superintend the election at the precinct or voting place for which said judges shall be appointed.

All three of the judges shall not be from the same political party, if persons from different political parties are willing to serve; and they shall be appointed from the two political parties most numerously represented in such ward or district.

The said Commissioners of Election shall also appoint two clerks of election for each and every voting place in their county. They shall be appointed not more than sixty days prior to every election in said county, and in due time to act thereat. They shall be of different political parties, if competent persons of different political parties are willing to serve.

The said Commissioners of Election are also hereby authorized and empowered to appoint the officer or officers of election at each voting place to the exclusion of the sheriff or other person or officer heretofore possessing said power of appointment. The judges and clerks shall be residents and citizens of the ward or district in which the voting place for which they are appointed is situated.

County and The county courts, mayors, boards of mayor and city authorities divested aldermen, and sheriffs of and in the said counties

of power.

To perform duties of

within the provisions of this Act, are hereby divested of the authority to appoint judges or inspectors and clerks of elections and officer or officers, and all laws or statutes vesting them, or any of them, with such power of appointment, which are inconsistent with the provisions hereof, are hereby repealed.

Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, That in all and every commission of the counties of this State, which now have, and which

ers of registration.

shall hereafter have, less than fifty thousand inhabitants, computed by the Federal Census, as hereinbefore provided, but which contain cities, towns and civil districts with a population of twenty-five hundred inhabitants, or over, computed as aforesaid, and which towns, cities or civil districts for that reason are, or shall be, within the provisions of the registration laws of this State, and particularly the following, viz.:

The Acts which are Chapter 224 of the Acts of 1891, Chapter 25 of the Acts of the Extra Session of 1890, and Chapter 12 of the First Extra Session of 1891, the duties now imposed by law upon the Commissioners of Registration in said counties in relation to said towns, cities and civil distets shall be performed and discharged by the Comm, ssioners of Election provided for by this 'Act.

Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, That whenever for any reason any judge or clerk so appointed fails to promptly attend, and by reason of his absence at the hour of holding the election, other persons shall be selected as is provided by law may be done, under sections 842 and 843 of the Code of Tennessee, the judges and clerks appointed from bystanders or freeholders, shall act only until the regularly appointed judge or clerk in whose stead he was appointed appears and demands, he shall be admitted to serve, and the person appointed to act in his stead shall cease to act, and shall retire; Provided, That any such person so appointed to serve instead of any officer, judge or clerk, shall be of the same political party as the person in whose stead he is selected to serve.

When specialofficers are

ly appointed

to serve.

Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty Returns of

election.

compiled.

of the officer holding the election, to deliver the polls or returns of the election, sealed, as received, to the said Commissioners of Election, not later than 12 o'clock m., on the first Monday after the election. On When to be the first Monday after the election it shall be the duty of the Commissioners of Election to compile the said polls or returns at the court-house, and to certify in writing, signed by at least two of them, the result as shown by said polls or returns, and to deliver to each person elected a certificate of his election.

Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, That the said commis- Poll lists to be

sioners shall cause a true copy of all the poll books, or poll lists used at or in every regular November election, to be made out, and when completed they shall file the same with the clerk of the county court to be preserved as records, for the period of four years, by him. The original poll books or poll lists, used at or in said November elections, shall be safely and securely kept by the Commissioners of Election, and without alteration, shall be sealed, and forwarded to the Secretary of State at Nashville, Tennesseee, within ten days after the election. The original polls, or returns, used at or in the regular August elections, shall be delivered to the clerk of the county court, to be preserved by him, as records, for four years.

preserved.

of copyist.

The clerks or copyist, employed to make out the copy Compensation for the county court clerk, shall receive as compensation twenty cents for every hundred names on the poll lists, which shall be paid as part of the expenses of the election, as the judges and clerks of election are now paid.

Sec. 7. Be it further enacted, That all laws, and parts of laws in conflict herewith, are hereby repealed.

Sec. 8. Be it further enacted, That this Act take effect from and after its passage, the public welfare requiring

it.

Passed February 10, 1897.

JOSEPH W. BYRNS, Speaker pro tem. of the House of Representatives. JOHN THOMPSON, Speaker of the Senate.

Approved February 11, 1897.

ROBT. L. TAYLOR,

Governor.

Definition of offense.

CHAPTER 14.

[HOUSE BILL NO. 18.1

AN ACT to preserve the purity of elections, and define and punish offenses against the elective franchise.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That it shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, by himself or through any other person:

(a) To pay, loan or contribute, or offer, or promise to pay, loan or contribute, any money or other valuable consideration to or for any voter, or to or for any other person, to induce such voter to vote or refrain from voting at any election provided by law, or to induce any voter to vote or refrain from voting at such election for any particular person or persons, or to induce such person to go to the polls or remain away from the polls at such election, or on account of such voter having voted or refrained from voting for any particular person, or having gone to the polls or remained away from the polls at such election.

(b) To give, offer or promise any office, place or employment, or to promise or procure, or endeavor to procure, any office, place or employment, to or for any voter, or to or for any other person, in order to induce such voter to vote or refrain from voting at any election provided by law, or to induce any voter to vote or refrain from voting at such election for any particular person or persons.

(c) To advance or pay, or cause to be paid, any money or other valuable thing to or for the use of any other

person, with the intent that the same or any part thereof shall be used in bribery at any election provided by law, or to knowingly pay or cause to be paid, any money or other valuable thing to any person in discharge or repayment of any money, wholly or in part expended in bribery at any such election.

Sec 2. It shall be unlawful for any person, directly Same. or indirectly, by himself or through any person:

(a) To receive, agree or contract for, before or during an election provided by law, any money, gift, loan or other valuable consideration, office, place or employment, for himself or any other person, for voting or agreeing to vote, or for going or agreeing to go to the polls, or for remaining or agreeing to remain away from the polls, or for refraining or agreeing to refrain from voting, or for voting or agreeing to vote, or refraining or agreeing to refrain from voting for any particular person or persons, measure or measures, at any election provided by law.

(b) To receive any money or other valuable thing during or after an election provided by law, on account of himself or any other person, for voting or refraining from voting for any particular person at such election, or on account of himself or any other person for going to the polls or remaining away from the polls at such election, or on account of having induced any person to vote or refrain from voting, or to vote or to refrain from voting for any particular person or persons, measure or measures, at such election.

Betting by

candidate

Sec. 3. It shall be unlawful for any candidate for public office, before or during any election provided by unlawful. law, to make any bet or wager with a voter, or to take a share or interest in, or in any manner become a party to any such bet or wager, or provide or agree to provide any money to be used by another in making such bet or wager, upon any event or contingency whatever, arising out of such election.

Nor shall it be lawful for any person, directly or indirectly, to make a bet or wager with a voter, depending upon the result of any election provided by law, with the intent thereby to procure the challenge of such voter, or to prevent him from voting at such election. Any violation of this section shall be deemed a misdemeanor.

Sec. 4. It shall be unlawful for any person, directly Violence and

or indirectly, by himself or any other person in his behalf, to make use of any force, violence or restraint, or to inflict or threaten the infliction, by himself or through any other person, of any injury, damage, harm or loss, or in any manner to practice intimidation upon

intimidation unlawful.

Grade of offense.

Violence or

force by corporations unlawful.

or against any person in order to induce or compel such person to vote or refrain from voting for any particular person or persons, measure or measures, at any election provided by law, or on account of such person having voted or refrained from voting at any such election. It shall be unlawful for any employer, either corporation, association, company, firm or person, in paying its, their or his employees the salary or wages due them, to enclose their pay in "pay envelopes" on which there is written or printed any political mottoes, devices or arguments, containing threats, express or implied, intended or calculated to influence the political opinion, views or actions of such employees. Nor shall it be lawful for any employer, either corporation, association, company, firm or person, within ninety days of any election provided by law, to put up or otherwise exhibit in its, their or his factory, workshop, mine, mill, boarding house, office or other establishment or place where its, their or his employees may be working or may be present in the course of such employment, any hand bill, notice or placard, containing any threat, notice or information, that in case any particular ticket or candidate shall, or shall not be elected, work in its, their or his establishment shall cease in whole or in part, or its, their or his workmen be reduced; or other threats, express or implied, intended or calculated to influence the political opinions or actions of its, their or his employees.

Any person or persons, or corporation violating any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor; and any person, whether acting in his individual capacity or as an officer or agent of any corporation, so guilty of such misdemeanor shall be punished as hereinafter prescribed.

Sec. 5. It shall be unlawful for any corporation or any officer or agent of any corporation to influence or attempt to influence, by force, violence or restraint, or by inflicting or threatening to inflict any injury, damage, harm or loss, or by discharging from employment or promoting in employment, or by intimidation or otherwise in any manner whatever, to induce or compel any employee to vote or refrain from voting at any election provided by law, or to vote or refrain from voting for any particular person or persons, measure or Misdemeanor. measures, at any such election. Any such corporation, or any officer or agent of such corporation, violating any of the provisions of this section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be subject to the penalty hereinafter provided, and in addition thereto, any cor

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