ABSTRACT OF LAWS.

WISCONSIN.

ELECTORS AND GENERAL ELECTIONS.

SEC. 12. Every male person of the age of twenty-one years or upward, belonging to either of the following classes, who shall have resided in the State for one year next preceding any election, shall be deemed a qualified elector at such election:

1. Citizens of the United States.

2. 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.

3. Persons of Indian blood who have once been declared by law of Congress to be citizens of the United States, any subsequent law of Congress to the contrary notwithstanding. 4. Civilized persons of Indian descent not members of any tribe. Every person convicted of bribery shall be excluded from the right of suffrage unless restored to civil rights; and no person who shall have made or become directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of any election at which he shall offer to vote, shall be permitted to vote at such election.

SEC. 13. No elector shall vote except in the town, ward, village or election district in which he actually resides.

SEC. 14. The general election prescribed in the Constitution shall be held in the several towns, wards, villages and election districts on the Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday in November in each year, at which time there shall be chosen such Representatives in Congress, Electors of President and Vice President, State officers, and county officers as are by law to be elected in such year.

SEC. 15. All elections shall be held in each town at the place where the last town-meeting was held, or at such other place as shall have been ordered at such last meeting, or as shall have been ordered by the Supervisors when they establish more than one election poll, except that the first election after the organization of a new town shall be held at the place directed in the act or proceeding by which it was organized; and all elections in villages constituting separate election districts and in the wards of cities, shall be held at the place to be ordered by the Trustees of such village, or the Common Council of such city, at least ten days before such election, unless a different provision is made in the act incorporating such village or city.

SEC. 16. Whenever it shall become impossible or inconvenient to hold an election at the place designated therefor. the Board of Inspectors, after having assembled at or as near as practicable to such place, and before receiving any votes may adjourn to the nearest convenient place for holding the election, and at such adjourned place shall forthwith proceed with the election. Upon adjourning any election as hereinbefore provided, the Board of Inspectors shall cause proclamation thereof to be made, and shall station a Constable or some other proper person at the place where the adjournment was made, to notify all electors arriving at such place of adjournment, and the place to which it was made.

SEC. 20. A registry of electors shall annually be made:

1. In each ward or election district of every city which, at the last previous census, had a population of three thousand or more.

2. In each ward or election district of every incorporated village in which, by law, separate elections are held; which village at the last preceding census, had a population of fifteen hundred or more.

3. In every town containing a village which, at said census, had a population of fifteen hundred or more, in which village separate general elections are not by law required to be held.

4. In all towns any part of which shall have been embraced in any part of any city or village in which a registration by this chapter is required.

Such registration shall be made in the manner provided by this chapter. The persons authorized by law to act as Inspectors of Election in each of such towns, wards or election districts shall constitute the Board of Registry therefor.

SEC. 21. The said Inspectors shall have their first meeting on Tuesday, four weeks preceding each general election, at the place where said election is to be held; and in election districts at which there were polled at the previous general election three hundred votes or less, they shall sit for one day, and in districts at which there were more than three hundred votes polled, they shall have power to sit two days if necessary, for the purpose of making such list. They shall meet at 9 o'clock in the forenoon and hold their meetings open until 8 o'clock in the evening of each day during which they shall so sit. The Clerks appointed by law to act as Clerks of Election shall act as Clerks of the Board of Registry on the day of election only. The proceedings shall be open, and all electors of the district shall be entitled to be heard in relation to corrections or additions to said registry. They shall have the same powers to preserve order which Inspectors of Election have on election days, and in towns vacancies in the Board shall be filled in the same manner that vacancies are filled at elections.

The said Inspectors at their first meeting, and before doing any business, shall severally take and subscribe the oath of Inspectors at a general election, and said Inspectors shall at their first meeting make a registry of all the electors of their respective districts, placing thereon the full names, alphabetically arranged according to surnames, in one column, and in another the residence by number and name of street or other location, if known. If any elector's residence is at any hotel or public boarding-house the name of the hotel or boarding-house shall be stated in the registry. They shall put thereon the names of all persons residing in their election district appearing on the poll-list kept at the last preceding general election, and are authorized to take therefor such poll-list from the office where kept, omitting such as have died or removed from the district, and adding the names of all other persons known to them to be electors in such district. In case of the formation of a new election district since the last preceding general election, the said Board therein may make such registry from the best means at their command, and may, if necessary, procure therefor certified copies of the last poll-list. They shall complete said registry as far as practicable at their first meeting, and shall make four copies thereof, and certify the original and each copy to be a true list of the electors in their district so far as the same are known to them. One of said copies shall be immediately posted in a conspicuous place in the room in which their meeting was held, and be accessible to any elector for examination or making copies thereof, and one copy shall be retained by each Inspector for revision and correction at the second meeting. They shall within two days after said first meeting file the original registry made by them, and said poll-list in the office of the proper town, city or village clerk, and may, in their discretion, cause ten printed copies of said registry to be made and posted in ten of the most public places of said election district, or may publish the same in a newspaper at an expense not exceeding one cent for each name.

SEC. 23. The Inspectors shall hold their second meeting at the same place designated for holding elections on the Tuesday two weeks preceding the election. They shall meet at 9 o'clock in the forenoon. In election districts having less than three hundred voters, as shown by the

preliminary registry, the Board shall complete the registry on the same day; but if there are more than that number of voters, they shall sit two days. They shall remain in session until 8 o'clock in the evening. They shall revise and correct the registry first by erasing the name of any person who shall be proved to their satisfaction by the oaths of two electors of the district to be not entitled to vote therein at the next ensuing election, unless such person shall appear and if challenged, shall answer the questions and take the oath hereinafter provided; secondly, by entering thereon the names of every elector entitled to vote in the district at the next election who shall appear before the Board and require it, and state his place of residence, giving street and number, if numbered, or location, as herein before provided, if challenged answer the questions, and take the oaths provided in case of challenge at an election; but if any person shall refuse to answer all such questions or to take such oath, his name shall not be registered. Any person who is not twenty-one years of age before the date when the registry is required to be corrected, but will be if he lives until the day of election, shall have his name put on the registry if he be otherwise qualified to be an elector. Any elector who did not vote at the previous general election shall be entitled to be registered either at the preliminary or the final registration of electors by appearing before the Board of Registration of his election district and establishing his right to be registered, or, instead of a personal appearance, he may make his application to be registered to the Board in writing. Such application shall state the name and period of continuous residence in the election district and place of residence therein, giving the number and street of the applicant, and, in case the person making the application is of foreign birth, he shall state when he came to the United States and to the State of Wisconsin, and the time and place of declaring his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States, and that he is entitled to vote at the election. Upon receiving such application, the Board of Registration shall register the name of such applicant, if it appears to the Board that the applicant is, by his statement, entitled to Such statement shall be made under oath, and shall be preserved by the Board and be filed in the office of the village or city clerk, as the case may be. All city and village clerks shall keep blanks for making the application for registration, as provided by this section. The form shall be prescribed by the Secretary of State. Every person named in this section shall be subject to the same punishment for any false statement or other offense in respect thereto as is provided in case of such false statement or other offense by an elector offering to vote at an election. After such registry shall have been fully completed on the days above mentioned, no name shall be added thereto by any person or upon any pretext. Within three days after the second meeting the said Board shall cause four copies of the registry to be made, each of which shall be certified by them to be a correct registry of the electors of their district, one of which shall be kept by each Inspector for use on election day, and one shall forthwith be filed in the office of the proper town, city or village clerk. All registries shall at all times be open to public inspection at the office where deposited without charge.

vote.

SEC. 24. On election day the Inspectors shall designate two of their number at the opening of the polls, who shall check the names of every elector voting in such district whose name is on the registry. No vote shall be received at any general election in any ward or election district defined in Section 20, if the name of the person offering to vote be not on said registry made at the second meeting as aforesaid, except as hereinafter provided; but in case any one shall, after the last day for completing such registry, and before such election, become a qualified voter of the district, he shall have the same right to vote therein at such election as if his name had been duly registered, provided he shall, at the time he offers to vote, deliver to the Inspectors his affidavit, in which he shall state the facts, showing that he has, since the completion of such registry, become a qualified elector of such district, and the facts showing that he was not such elector on the day such registry was completed, and shall also deliver to such Inspectors the affidavits of two freeholders, electors in such election district, corroborating all the material statements in his affidavit. In case any person who was a voter at the last previous general election shall not be registered, such person shall be entitled to vote on making affidavit that he was enti tled to vote at the previous election, and that he has not become disqualified by reason of removal