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rate piece of paper. Each inspector or judge, on receiving the ticket of a voter, should call out aloud his name, which should be entered by the clerk on a separate list, and the judge may insert the letter V opposite the name, in the regular alphabetical list. Tickets should be delivered personally by the voter, and ought never to be received by any other person, and should be immediately deposited in the ballot box, and there remain till the polls are closed. When the polls shall be closed, the box, or boxes, as the case may be, should be opened and the inspectors should take out the tickets and read aloud the name or names of the candidates written or printed thereon, and the clerk, or clerks, should carefully enter, as read, each ticket as it is taken from the box, and keep an account of the same on papers prepared for the purpose, so that the number of votes for each candidate tallied thereon, may be readily known.

§ 4. It is customary when more names are printed on a ticket than the law allows, or when two or more tickets have been improperly folded together to reject them entirely. But no ticket ought to be rejected which contains less than the required number of names. After the votes shall be counted, they should be returned to the ballot box, which ought to to be bound round tight with tape and sealed by the judges of the election. The box with all the lists, tally papers, &c., should then be delivered to the nearest justice of the

peace, who should safely keep the same, for the proper tribunal in case of a contested election.

§ 5. It is then the duty of the judges to transmit within three days, the results of the election under seal to the clerk of the county court.

§ 6. After the votes given for any office shall have been read off and counted, the presiding judge, i. e., the one first named in the order of the appointment, should publicly declare the number of votes given for each candidate, and then the judges should make out a certificate under their hands and seal, and set forth the number of votes given for each of the several candidates.*

* A FORM OF ELECTION RETURNS.

day of - at the

Anno

Hall,

At an election held on Wednesday, the Domini one thousand eight hundred and fiftyin the town of, in the county of, being the election district in the county aforesaid, on closing the polls it appeared that the votes were cast for the following persons:

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And so on for town clerk, select men, or whatever may be the title of the officer.

In testimony whereof, we, the judges of the election for the said dis. trict, have hereunto set our hands and seals this

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day of

A.

[SEAL.]

[SEAL.]

[SEAL.]

§ 7. It is usually the duty of the presiding judge of each election district, to take charge of the certificates aforenamed, and to produce the same at a general meeting of all the presiding judges of each election district of the county, at the court house the third day after the election [or in case the third occur on Sunday, the fourth day.] These judges, when assembled, should elect some one of their number as chairman, and also two suitable persons as clerks, who with the judges, are usually sworn to perform the duties of their office with honesty and fidelity.

§ 8. After the meeting is thus organized, the representative judges from each election district, should deliver the certificates of election of their respective districts to the president of the meeting, who should cause the clerks to add the number of votes which shall appear, by said certificates, to have been given for any candidate or candidates, in respect to each office. It is then the duty of the clerks to make out duplicate returns, which should be signed by all the judges present. The returns for governor and State senator, are generally directed to the State Senate ;*-a represen

* The following is the usual form:

To the Hon. the Senate of the State of

The undersigned, judges of the election held in the several districts of the county of - on the -inst., A. B., one of the judges of the judges of the second district, and so

first district; C. D., one of the on [one judge from each district according to the number of districts in the county] being assembled at the court house of the county aforesaid, and having carefully examined the returns of the several districts, and enumerated and added the votes therein contained, do cer

tative in Congress, to the Governor ;* and a State representative, to the House of Representatives. It may be remarked that each State has its particular laws in reference to the qualifications of voters, and its peculiar manner of conducting elections, but the above forms, so far as they go, are adopted by most of the States in the Union.

tify that at the said election, the votes for governor appeared as follows, viz: For Wm. H

For O

five thousand votes,

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5,000 4,600

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seal, &c. * Whose duty it is to give the representative his credentials to the House of Representatives of the United States.

Table I. exhibiting the Seats of Government, the Times of the Election of State Officers, and the Meeting of the Legislatures of Each State.

States.

Seats of
Government.

Maine, Augusta,
N. H., Concord,
Vt., Montpelier,
Mass., Boston,
R. L., Prv. & Newp't
Conn., Hart. & N. H.
N. Y., Albany,

N. J., Trenton,

Pa.,

Harrisburg,

Del.,

Dover,

Md.,

Annapolis,

Va.,

Richmond,

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2d Monday in September, 2d Wednesday in Jan.
2d Tuesday in March, 1st Wednesday in June.
1st Tuesday in Sept., 2d Thursday in Oct.
2d Monday in November, 1st Wednesday in Jan.
1st Wednesday in April, 1stTu.inMay, lastM.Oc.
1s Monday in April, 1st Wednesday in May.

Tu. after 1st Mon. in Nov. 1st Tuesday inJanuary.
Tu. after 1st Mon. in Nov. 2d Tuesday in January.

2d Tuesday in October,
2d Tuesday in Nov.,
1st Wednesday in Nov.,
4th Thursday in April,
1st Thursday in August,
2d Monday in October,
Milledgeville, 1st Monday in October,
Tallahassee, 1st Monday in October,
Montgomery, 1st Monday in August,

N. C., Raleigh,

S. C., Columbia,

Ga.,

Fla.,

Ala.,

Miss., Jackson,

La.,

1stTuesday in January.

1st Tues.in Jan., bienn.* 1st Wed. in Jan., bienn. 1st Mon. in Dec., bienn. 3d Mon. in Nov., bienn. 4th Monday in Nov.

1st Mon. in Nov., bienn. 1st Mon. in Nov., bienn.

2d Mon. in Nov., bienn. 1st Mon. and Tu. in Nov., 1st Mon. in Jan., bienn.

Baton Rouge, 1st Monday in November, 3d Mon. in Jan., bienn.

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Tu. after 1st Mon. in Nov. 2d Mon. in Jan., bienn.
Tu. after 1st Mon. in Nov. 1st Monday in January.
1st Tuesday in November, 1st Monday in January.
Tu. after 1st Mon. in Nov. 1st Monday in January.

* Biennially, that is, every other year, or once in two years.

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