TITLE III. CHAPTER VI. General election; when held. Officers to be elected. ELECTIONS OTHER THAN FOR MILITIA AND TOWN SHIP OFFICERS. An act to provide for holding general and special elections. i [Approved June 27, 1851. Took effect Sept. 27, 1851. Laws of 1851, p. 281.] (32.) SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That a general election shall be held in the several townships and wards of this State, on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-two, and on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, every second year thereafter, at which there shall be elected so many of the following officers as are to be chosen in such years respectively, that is to say: A Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Auditor General, Attorney General, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner of the State Land Office, members of the State Board of Education, Electors of President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Sec. 1; Art. 18, Congress, the Senators and Representatives in the State Legislature, and the following county officers, viz: Judges of probate, Art. 6, So. 18. sheriffs, clerks, treasurers, registers of deeds, prosecuting attorneys, and such other officers as may by law be required to be elected at such general election: Provided, The provisions of this section shall not apply to the election of the Senator and Representatives in the State Legislature, nor to the election of county officers, in Const. Art. 5, Sec. 3; Art. 8, Soc. 9. 1 This act, it is believed, supersedes the whole of Chapters 8, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the Revised Statutes of 1846. that portion of the State denominated the Upper Peninsula, as described in section one, article nineteen, of the revised Constitution, and such other territory as may be attached thereto for election purposes. On the first Tuesday of November, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, there shall be elected a Governor and Lieutenant Governor, whose term of office shall commence on the first Monday of January, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, and who shall hold their respective offices until the first day of January, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, and until their successors are elected and qualified; which election shall be conducted in the manner provided by the Constitution and laws in force on the thirty-first day of December, eighteen hundred and fifty; and the returns and Schedule to canvass of votes given thereon, shall be proceeded and determined in the same manner herein provided for the same officers to be elected at general biennial elections. Const. Sec. 5. (33.) SEC. 2. Special elections may be held in the following In what cases cases, and for the election of the following officers, viz: 1. When a vacancy shall occur in the office of Senator or Representative in the State Legislature, Representative in Congress, judge of the circuit or district court, Regent of the University, or member of the State Board of Education; 2. When there has been no choice at a general election of Representative in Congress; 3. When the right of office of a person elected to any of the aforesaid district or county offices shall cease before the commencement of the term of service for which he shall have been elected; 4. When a vacancy shall occur in either of the said county offices after the commencement of the term of service, and more than six months before the next general election; 5. When, in any other case of a vacancy not particularly provided for in this section, the Governor shall in his discretion so direct. special elections may be held. When vacancies (34.) SEC. 3. A vacancy in either of the offices named in the first section of this act, which shall not have been supplied before may balled on a general election, may be supplied at such election. general election. (35.) SEC. 4. No special election shall be held within three When special months next preceding a general election, except in cases where the elections not to Governor shall order a special election. be held. dered by board (36.) SEC. 5. Special elections for the choice of the county offi- When to be orcers named in section one of this act shall, except in cases in which of supervisors. a special election is to be ordered by the Governor, be ordered by the board of supervisors. To be held one day only. Persons having greatest number (37.) SEC. 6. Special elections shall be held and continued one. day only, and shall be conducted, and the result thereof canvassed and certified in all respects, as near as may be, in like manner as general elections, except as otherwise directed. (38.) SEC. 7. In elections for the choice of all officers named in of votes deemed the first section of this act, the persons having the greatest number of votes shall be deemed to have been duly elected. elected. Election of Elec tors of President dent. (39.) SEC. 8. Whenever the time fixed by the law of Congress and Vice Presi- for the election of electors of President and Vice President of the United States, shall not occur on the day appointed for holding the general election, such election for electors of President and Vice President shall be held on the day so fixed by the law of Congress therefor. Ibid. Notice of sup (40.) SEC. 9. All the provisions of law relating to the notifying and holding of the general elections, and the election of electors. of President and Vice President thereat, shall apply to every such election held pursuant to the provisions of the preceding section; and the votes given for such electors shall be returned and canvassed, and the result determined in the same manner in all respects, and with the like effect, as in case of the election of such electors at a general election. (41.) SEC. 10. When a vacancy shall occur in the office of judge plying vacancies in certain offices. of the circuit court, Regent of the University, or member of the Of general elections. State Board of Education, thirty days or more before a general election, the Secretary of State shall, at least twenty days before such election, cause a written notice to be sent to the sheriff of each of the counties within the election district in which such vacancy may occur; which notice shall state in which office the vacancy occurred, and that such vacancy will be supplied at the next general election. (42.) SEC. 11. The Secretary of State shall, between the first day of July and the first day of September preceding a general election, direct and cause to be delivered to the sheriff of each county in this State, a notice in writing that at the next general election there will be chosen as many of the following officers as are to be elected at such general election, viz: A Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Auditor General, Attorney General, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner of the State Land Office, members of the State Board of Education, Electors of President and Vice President of the United States, and a Representative in Congress for the district to which each of such counties shall belong. Senators and (43.) SEC. 12. He shall also, between the first day of July and of elections of the first day of September preceding such election, direct and cause Representatives. to be delivered to the sheriff of each county a notice in writing, stating the number of Senators and Representatives to be elected in such county, specifying the number of each district, and the limits of such district, when the county alone does not constitute a Senatorial or Representative district or districts. tions. (44.) SEC. 13. Whenever a special election shall be ordered by of special electhe Governor to fill any vacancy, the Secretary of State shall immediately notify the sheriff of each of the counties embraced in said election district, of the time of holding such election, the cause of such vacancy, the name of the officer, and the time when his term of office will expire. vacancy to be (45.) SEC. 14. When the board of supervisors of a county shall Duty of board of supervisors order a special election to fill a vacancy in any office, such order in ordering shall be in writing and signed by the chairman and clerk of the filled. board, and shall specify how the vacancy occurred; the name of the officer in whose office it occurred; the time when his term of office will expire, and the day on which such special election shall be held, not being more than forty nor less than thirty days from the making of such order; and such clerk shall, without delay, cause a copy of such order to be delivered to the township clerk of each township, and to one of the inspectors of election in each ward of any city in the county. on receiving no (46.) SEC. 15. The sheriff, on receiving either of the notices Duty of sheriff directed in this act to be sent to him, shall forthwith cause a tice. notice in writing to be delivered to the township clerk in each township, and to one of the inspectors of election in each ward in any city of his county, which notice shall contain in substance the notices so received by such sheriff; but if such county shall be divided into two or more Senatorial or Representative districts, then such notice, so far as it relates to the election of Senators or Representatives, shall be delivered to the proper officer in each township or ward in each respective district. (47.) SEC. 16. He shall also give at least twenty days' notice in Ibid. writing, to be delivered to the township clerk of each township, and to one of the inspectors of election in each ward in any city in his county, of the holding of each general election, for the choice of county officers, designating the officers to be chosen at each and every such election. (48.) SEC. 17. The township clerk or inspector of elections, Duty of townreceiving either of the notices directed in this act to be delivered spector on re ship clerk or in ceiving notice. Inspectors of elections. When electors to choose inspect ors. Clerks of election. 16 Mich. 283. to him; shall, by notice in writing, under his hand, give at least ten days' notice of the time and place at which such election is to be held, and the officers to be chosen, which election shall be held at the place of holding the last preceding township meeting, or at such other place in the township as the township board of such township shall prescribe; and if the notice is of a general election, at which a vacancy is to be filled, it shall state the name of the person in whose office the vacancy shall have occurred, and that such vacancy will be supplied at such election; and such township clerk or inspector shall cause such notices to be posted up in at least three of the most public places in the said township or ward.1 (49.) SEC. 18. At the general election, the supervisor, the justice of the peace not holding the office of supervisor or town clerk, whose term of office will first expire, and the township clerk of each township, and the assessor and alderman of each ward in a city, or if in any city there be not an assessor in every ward, then the two aldermen of each ward, shall be the inspectors of election, two of whom shall constitute a quorum. (50.) SEC. 19. In case three of such inspectors shall not attend at the opening of the polls, or shall not remain in attendance during the election, the electors present may choose, viva voce, such number of such electors as, with the inspector or inspectors present, shall constitute a board of three in number; and such electors, so chosen, shall be inspectors of that election, during the continuance thereof. (51.) SEC. 20. The township clerk, if present, shall be required by the board to act as a clerk of the election, and before the opening of the polls, the inspectors in each township shall appoint another competent person to be clerk of the election; and if the township clerk shall not be present, the board shall appoint two such clerks, and the inspectors in each ward in a city shall appoint two compe4 Selden, 67, 68. tent persons to be such clerks; and each of the clerks so appointed, and each of the inspectors so chosen, shall take the constitutional oath of office, which oath either of the inspectors may administer. At what timo polls to be opened and closed. (52.) SEC. 21. The polls of the election shall be opened at eight o'clock in the forenoon, or as soon thereafter as may be, on the day of election, and shall be continued open until five o'clock in the Adjournments. afternoon of the same day, and no longer; but the board may adjourn the polls at twelve o'clock noon, for one hour, in their 4 Selden, 92. 1 As amended by Act 853 of 1865, p. 720, approved March 21, 1865. |