misdemeanor. 107. Whenever, in the investigation of any contested election, whether before 17 April 1866 § 8. any committee of councils, any court of the city and county of Philadelphia, or P. L. 969. committee of the senate or house of representatives, or a joint committee thereof, Receiving ten nonit shall appear that in any election division of said city the officers of election shall registered votes have wilfully received the votes of ten persons or upwards, whose names are not without proof, a contained in the list of taxable inhabitants furnished to the election officers of such division by the city commissioners, without requiring proof of the payment of taxes, citizenship and residence, which now are or hereafter may be required by law, such dereliction of duty shall be deemed a misdemeanor; upon conviction whereof the said officers of election shall be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, and be imprisoned for a period not exceeding two years, both or either, at the discretion of the court. XVII. Nominations to office. P. L. 419. 108. Any convention of delegates, or primary meeting of electors, or caucus 10 June 1893 § 2. held under the rules of a political party, or any board authorized to certify nominations representing a political party, which, at the election next preceding, polled who may nomiat least two per centum of the largest entire vote for any office cast in the state, or nate for office. in the electoral district or division thereof for which such primary meeting, caucus, convention or board desires to make or certify nominations, may nominate one candidate for each office which is to be filled in the state, or in the said district or division, at the next ensuing election by causing a certificate of nomination to be Ibid. § 3. Nomination papers. drawn up and filed as hereinafter provided. Every such certificate of nomination Certificate of nomshall be signed by the presiding officer and the secretary or secretaries of the con- ination. vention, or primary meeting, or caucus or board, (r) who shall add thereto their How signed. places of residence, and shall be sworn or affirmed to by them before an officer qualified to administer oaths, to be true to the best of their knowledge and belief, and a certificate of the oath shall be annexed to the certificate of nomination. (s) 109. Nominations of candidates for any public office may also be made by nomination papers, signed by qualified electors of the state, or of the electoral district or division thereof for which the nomination is made, and filed in the proper office as provided in section five of this act. Where the nomination is for any office to be filled by the voters of the state at large, the number of qualified electors of the state signing such nomination paper, shall be at least one-half of one per centum of the largest vote for any officer elected in the state at the last preceding election at which a state officer was voted for. In the case of all other nominations the number of qualified electors of the electoral district or division, signing such nomination paper, shall be at least two per centum of the largest entire vote for any officer elected at the last preceding election in the said electoral district or division for which said nomination papers are designed to be made. Each elector signing a nomination paper shall add to his signature his place of residence and occupation, and no person may subscribe to more than one nomination for each office to be filled. The signatures to each nomination paper and the qualification of the Affidavit. signers shall be vouched for by the affidavit of at least five of the signers thereof, which affidavit shall accompany the nomination paper.(t) 110. All certificates of nomination and nomination papers shall specify: Ibid. § 4. One (1). The party or policy which such candidate represents, expressed in not Contents of nomimore than three words; in the case of electors of president and vice-president of nation certificates the United States, the names of the candidates for president and vice-president and papers. shall be added to the party or political appellation. Two (2). The name of each candidate nominated therein, his profession, business or occupation, if any, and his place of residence, with street and number thereon, if any. Three (3). The office for which such candidate is nominated: Provided, That no words shall be used in any nomination papers to describe or designate the party or policy, or political appellation, represented by the candidate named in such nomination papers as aforesaid, identical with the words used for the like purpose in certificates of nominations made by a convention of delegates of a political party, which, at the last preceding election, polled two per centum of the largest vote cast: And (r) A nomination must be certified by the president and secretary of the body which nominates; the approval of a certificate by a city committee is not sufficient. Dailey's Certificate, 12 C. C. 155. (8) A certificate of nomination will be held valid where no fraud was committed or intended, although the party rules as to voting were violated. Littley's Certificate, 12 C. C. 159. Where a ward executive committee is recognized as legal by the city executive committee, and such ward committee elects a person as temporary chairman of the legislative convention, the person nominated by such convention will be recognized as the regular candidate of the party. Donahue's Certificate, 12 C. C. 198. Such a nomination will be held valid, notwithstanding irregularities in the manner in which some delegates were elected. Ker's Certificate, 12 C. C. 200. Where a judicial district is composed of two counties, the certificate of a nomination of law judge made by the electors of one county, is wholly void. Ingram's Certificate, 14 C. C. 1. Craig's Certificate, Ibid. 3. (t) A nomination paper vouched for by the affidavit of only four signers must be rejected; so, a nomination paper bearing evident marks of alteration will be disregarded, and one not containing the requisite number of signatures of qualified electors, will be held to be invalid. This act permits separate nomination papers essentially alike and certified to by different sets of vouchers. King's Nomination, 12 C. C. 161. 1 P. L. 419. 10 June 1993 § 4. provided further, That any objections filed to a nomination certificate or paper on account of the party or political appellation used therein, or involving the right as defined by sections two and three of this act, to file such certificate or paper, shall be decided by the court of common pleas on hearing as hereinafter provided. Objections to be decided by the court of common pleas. Certain certificates shall be filed with the secretary of the commonwealth. Time of filing. Ibid. be filed with 111. Certificates of nomination for candidates for the offices of presidential electors and members of the house of representatives of the United States, and for state offices, including those of judges and senators, shall be filed with the secretary of the commonwealth at least thirty-five days(u) before the day of the election for which the candidates are nominated, and nomination papers for candidates for the said offices shall be filed with the said secretary at least twenty-eight days before the day of such election. 112. Certificates of nomination and nomination papers for candidates for all Certain papers to other offices, except township and borough offices, shall be filed with the county commissioners of the respective counties at least twenty-eight and twenty-one days (v) respectively before the day of the election. county commis sioners. Ibid. Others with town auditors. 113. Certificates of nomination and nomination papers for candidates for township and borough offices, and election officers and school directors in the same, shall ship and borough be filed with the county commissioners at least eighteen and fifteen days respectively before the day of election. In determining or reckoning any period of time mentioned in this act, the day upon which the act is done, paper filed or notice given, shall be excluded from, and the day of election shall be included in, the calculation or reckoning. How time to be reckoned. Ibid. § 6. Proper officer to examine nomina 114. It shall be the duty of the officer or officers to whom any nomination certificate or paper is brought for the purpose of filing, to examine the said certificate or paper, and if it lack sufficient signatures or be otherwise manifestly defective, it shall not be filed, but the action of the said officer or officers in refusing to receive a certificate or paper, may be reviewed by the court of common pleas of the shall not be filed. county upon an application for a mandamus to compel its reception as of the date when it was brought to the office. tion paper or certificate. If defective it Review. Ibid. Objections to certificates, &c. For boroughs and townships. tions. Ibid. 115. All nomination certificates and papers which have been filed shall be deemed to be valid, unless objections thereto are duly made by writing filed in the court of common pleas of the county (w) in which the certificate or paper objected to has been filed, and within the following periods: First. In the case of certificates and papers filed with the secretary of the commonwealth, at least twenty-one days before the day of the election. Second. In the case of other certificates and papers, except those designed for borough and township officers, at least eighteen days before the day of the elec tion. Third. In the case of certificates and papers designed for borough and township officers, at least twelve days before the day of the election. 116. In case the court is in session, one or more judges thereof shall proceed to Hearing of objec- hear such objections without unnecessary adjournment or delay, and shall give such hearing precedence over all other business before him or them. In case the court is not in session, any judge thereof, on the presentation to him of the certificate of the prothonotary, that such objections have been filed as aforesaid, shall proceed to hear such objections as aforesaid. No objection of any nature whatever shall be filed, unless accompanied by proof of service of notice of the proposed objection upon at least one of the candidates named in the certificate or paper objected to; nor shall any objection be heard in the absence of any of the said candidates without proof of service of notice of the hearing upon him. If the court decide that the certificate or paper objected to was not filed by parties entitled under this act to file the same, it shall be wholly void; but if it be adjudged defective only, the court shall indicate the matters as to which it requires amendment and the time within which such amendment must be made, and every certificate or paper amended after the time when the names therein contained should have been sent to the sheriff, shall be subject to the provisions of this act concerning substituted nominations. The officers with whom nomination certificates and Amendments. (u) The certificate of nomination to the office of associate judge is one of the first class, and must be filed with the secretary of the commonwealth thirtyfive days before the election. Weyant's Certificate, 13 C. C. 561. Where the certificate has been filed by mistake with the county commissioners, they cannot certify the nomination to the sheriff. Cresswell's Nomination Papers, 13 C. C. 562. For the last day for filing certificates of nomination, and nomination papers, with the secretary of the commonwealth and the county commissioners, see Matter of Certificates, 12 C. C. 157. (v) A certificate of nomination not filed with the secretary of the commonwealth twenty-one days before the election is void. Failure to vouch for the signatures of the signers of nomination papers may be remedied under the direction of the court. Ewing's Certificate, 13 C. C. 638. Where a vacancy in select council occurs by death twenty-one days before election, and a nomination is made thirteen days before election, the certificate of nomination must be accepted by the county commissioners, and the nominee's name printed on the ballot. Clay's Nomination, 12 C. C. 419. (w) Objections to certificates of nomination of judges, senators and representatives, other than mere objections to form, must be filed in the court of common pleas of Dauphin county. Dailey's Case, 12 C. C. 163. The validity of nomination papers for congressional districts will not be passed upon by the court of common pleas of Dauphin county, when the objections are merely as to form, or are not filed in said court; and this, though the petition be filed by the secretary of the commonwealth. Jobes's Nomination, 12 C. C. 253. Van Storch's Nomination, Ibid. 253. papers have been filed, shall permit the parties who have filed them to amend 10 June 1893 § 6. them of their own motion at any time prior to the printing of the ballots. P. L. 419. How candidate 117. Any person whose name has been presented as a candidate may cause his name to be withdrawn from nomination, by request in writing signed by him and acknowledged before an officer qualified to take acknowledgments of deeds, and filed in the office where his nomination certificate or paper is on file fifteen days, or in the case of township and borough elections twelve days, previous to the day of the election; and no name so withdrawn shall be printed upon the ballots. 118. Where any office not in court of record shall for any cause become vacant Ibid. after the time for making nominations for such office shall have elapsed, or when occurring after a writ for a special election to supply a vacancy shall direct such election to be Filling vacancies, held at a date which would prevent the making of nominations in time to comply time for making with section five of this act, nominations for the office to be filled may still be nominations. made in accordance with sections two and three of this act, but in other respects the provisions of section twelve of this act shall apply to such nominations. Ibid. § 8. 119. All certificates of nomination and nomination papers when filed shall be Papers to be open open under proper regulations to public inspection, and shall be preserved not for inspection and less than two years in the offices where they have been filed. preserved for two years. Ibid. § 9. commonwealth 120. The secretary of the commonwealth shall, fourteen days at least previous to the day of any election of United States or state officers, or for the adoption of amendments to the constitution of this commonwealth, transmit to the county Secretary of the commissioners and the sheriff in each county in which such election is to be held, to transmit lists to duplicate official lists, stating the names and residences of and parties or policies county commisrepresented by all candidates whose nomination certificates or papers have been sioners and sheriff. filed with him as herein provided for such election, and have not been found and declared to be invalid as provided in section six, and to be voted for at each voting place in each such county respectively, substantially in the form of the ballots to be used therein, duplicate copies of the text of all proposed constitutional amendments to be voted upon at such election. Ibid. County commis 121. The county commissioners of each county shall also send to the sheriff of their county, at least ten days prior to the day of any general election, an official list containing the names and party or political appellations of all candidates sioners to send list whose nomination certificates or papers have been filed with the said commissioners to sheriff. as herein provided for such election and to be voted for at each voting place in the county, substantially in the form of the ballots to be used therein. Ibid. § 11. 122. In case of the death or withdrawal of any candidate nominated as herein provided, the party convention, primary meeting, caucus, or board, or the citizens How vacancies who nominated such candidate, may nominate a substitute in his place, by filing shall be filled. in the proper office at any time before the day of election, a nomination certificate or paper which shall conform to all the requirements of this act in regard to original certificates or papers: Provided, That if the said convention or citizens shall have authorized any committee, or if any executive committee of any political party be authorized by the rules of said party, to make nominations in the event of the death or withdrawal of candidates, the said convention shall not be required to reconvene nor the said citizens to sign a new nomination paper, but the said committee shall have power to file the requisite nomination certificate or paper, which shall recite the facts of the appointment and powers of the said committee, (naming all its members,) of the death, or withdrawal of the candidate, and of the action of the committee thereon, and the truth of these facts shall be verified by the affidavit annexed to the certificate, or paper of two members of the committee, and also of at least two of the officers of the convention who made affidavit in support of the original certificate, or two of the citizens who made affidavit to the original paper: And provided also, That in case of a substituted nomination paper not filed by a committee, but signed by citizens, it shall only be necessary that two-thirds of the signers of the said paper shall have been signers of the original paper. Ibid. § 12. 123. All substituted nomination certificates or papers may be objected to as provided in section six of this act, and if a substituted certificate or paper be filed Substituted nomiafter the last day for filing the original certificate or paper, objections must be nation papers and made within four days after the filing, and no objections as to form and conformity certificates and obto law shall be received after the time set for printing the ballots. jections thereto. Ibid. Substitution of 124. As soon as any substituted candidate shall have been duly nominated, his name shall be substituted by the proper officers in the place of that of the candidate who has died or withdrawn so far as time may allow, and in case a substituted candidate. nomination be filed with or transmitted to the county commissioners after the If made after ballots have been printed, the said commissioners shall prepare and distribute ballots have been with the ballots suitable slips of paper bearing the substituted name, together with printed, slips to be prepared. the title of the office, and having adhesive paste upon the reverse side, which shall be offered to each voter with the regular ballot and may be affixed thereto. 30 Jan. 1874 § 9. P. L. 34. Ballots to be numbered. Electors may indorse their ballots. 10 June 1893 § 1. P. L. 419. Ballots to be printed and distributed at public expense. To be a county charge. XVIII. Ballots. 125. All elections by the citizens shall be by ballot; every ballot voted shall be numbered in the order in which it shall be received, and the number recorded by the clerks on the list of voters, opposite the name of the elector from whom received; (x) and any voter voting two or more tickets, the several tickets so voted shall each be numbered with the number corresponding with the number to the name of the voter. Any elector may write his name upon his ticket, or cause the same to be written thereon, and attested by a citizen of the district. 126. All ballots cast in elections for public officers within this commonwealth shall be printed and distributed at public expense as hereinafter provided. The printing of the ballots and of the cards of instruction for the elections in each county, and the delivery of the same to the election officers as hereinafter provided, and all other expenses incurred under the provisions of this act shall be a county charge, unless herein otherwise provided, the payment of which shall be provided for in the same manner as the payment of other election expenses. It shall be the duty of the secretary of the commonwealth to prepare forms for all the commonwealth to blanks made necessary or advisable by this act, and to furnish copies of the same to the county commissioners of each county, who shall procure further copies of the same at the cost of the county and furnish them to the election officers or other persons by whom they are to be used, in such quantities as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this act. Secretary of the prepare forms and furnish same to county commissioners. Ibid. § 13. Printing of ballots. Ibid. § 14. How ballots shall be printed. Ibid. How names of candidates shall be arranged. Ibid. How names of presidential electors shall be arranged. Ibid. A circle to be printed at the head of each column For a straight ticket." Ibid. 127. The county commissioners of each county shall cause all the ballots to be used therein to be printed. The said commissioners shall ascertain the offices to be filled and shall be responsible for the accurate printing of the ballots in accordance with this act, and for the safe keeping of the same while in their possession, or that of their subordinates or agents.(y) 128. The face of every ballot which shall be printed in accordance with the provisions of this act shall contain the names of all candidates whose nomination for any office specified in the ballot shall have been duly made, except such as may have died or withdrawn, arranged as hereinafter provided. 129. The names of the candidates of each political party or body of electors shall be arranged under the titles of the offices for which they are nominated in parallel columns, with the party or political appellation at the head of each column. The said columns shall be inclosed by heavy lines and separated from each other by a clear space of at least one-eighth of an inch, and shall be printed in the order as nearly as possible of the votes obtained in the state at the last state election by the parties or bodies nominating, beginning with the party or body which obtained the highest vote for the candidate, at the head of its column, at such election. 130. When presidential electors are to be voted for, there shall be printed above each of the said columns, the names of the candidates for presidential electors nominated by the party or body of citizens named in the column, arranged in groups with the party or political appellation, and the surnames of the candidates for president and vice-president at the head of each group. 131. There shall be printed above each column of candidates of a political party, a circle three-fourths of one inch in diameter, and there shall be printed around but without the circle the following words: "For a straight ticket mark within this circle." 132. There shall be left at the right of the groups of candidates for presidential electors, and of the lists of candidates for other officers (or under the title of the Blank spaces to be office itself for which an election is to be held in case there be no candidates left at the right of the groups of elec- legally nominated therefor), as many blank spaces as there are persons to be voted for, by each voter for such office, in which spaces the voter may insert the name of any person whose name is not printed on the ballot as a candidate for such office, and such insertion shall count as a vote without the cross-mark hereinafter mentioned. tors and list of candidates. e Names written in need not be marked with x. Ibid. a vote is to be 133. Whenever the approval of a constitutional amendment or other question is How printed when submitted to the vote of the people, such question shall be printed upon the ballots taken on a consti- in a brief form and followed by the words, "yes" and "no," and if such question be submitted at an election of public officers, it shall be printed below the lists of candidates. tutional amendment or other question. Ibid. Designation of choice. Instructions to be printed off ballot. One x mark by voter may desig nate an entire 134. The ballots shall be so printed as to give to each voter a clear opportunity to designate his choice of candidates by a cross-mark (x) in a square of sufficient size at the right of the name of each candidate and inside the line inclosing the column, and in like manner answers to the questions submitted by similar marks in squares at the right of the words "yes" and "no," and on the ballot may be printed instructions how to mark, and such words as will aid the voter to do this, as "mark one," "mark three," and the like: Provided, That a voter may designate his choice of an entire group of candidates for presidential electors by one cross (2) Const., art. viii. § 4. See James v. McKibben, 1 Leg. Rec. R. 77. (y) A borough auditor is entitled to a per diem compensation for his services in connection with the printing and distribution of official ballots. Corr v Lackawanna County, 34 W. N. C. 450. ELECTIONS. P. L. 419. group of electors, mark in a larger square, which shall be placed at the right of the surnames of the 10 June 1893 § 14. surnames of candi and vice-presi voter in the circle, 135. All the ballots used at the same voting place at any election shall be alike, dent. ticket. and shall be at least six inches long and four inches wide. They shall be printed One x mark by white with the same kind or kinds of type (which shall not be smaller than the size votes a straight without any imprespaper Ibid. § 15. known as "brevier" or "eight-point body"), upon alike. sion or mark to distinguish one from another, and of sufficient thickness to preStyle of printing. vent the printed matter from showing through. Each ballot shall be attached to All ballots to be a stub or counterfoil, and all the ballots for the same voting place shall be bound together in convenient numbers in books in such manner that each ballot may be To be attached to detached and removed separately. stub. paste. Ibid. gether. 136. A diagonal folding-line shall be printed on the right-hand upper corner of And bound toDiagonal folding the back of each ballot, and the said corner shall be edged with adhesive paste so that the corner when folded at the folding-line can be securely fastened down over the number now required by the constitution of this commonwealth, so that the line to be printed said number cannot be seen without unfastening or cutting open the part so on corner and corfastened down. The top of each ballot shall have a margin of equal size on both ner edged with back and face, and the said folding-line shall be upon this margin, and the space Corner to be fasbetween the folding-line and the paste shall be filled in with solid printing, and tened down over nothing else shall be printed on the margin except instructions how to mark: Pro- number. vided, That if at any time the said constitution shall cease to require ballots to be Margin. numbered, the foregoing requirements as to the folding-line, the margin and the adhesive paste shall be void. Ibid. Caption on back of 137. On the back of each ballot, or on the right-hand side of the back, if the ballot is printed in two columns, there shall be printed as a caption, "official ballot for," followed by the designation of the voting place for which the ballot is pre- ballot. pared, the date of the election and a fac-simile of the signatures of the county commissioners of the respective counties who have caused the ballots to be printed. 138. A record of the number of ballots printed and furnished to each voting place, shall be kept and preserved by the county commissioners of the several counties. Ibid. of ballots printed Ibid. How mistakes in 139. When it is shown by affidavit that mistake or omission has occurred in the publication of names or description of candidates, or in the printing of the ballots, the court of common pleas of the district or county, or any judge thereof, may upon publication of the application of any qualified elector of the district or county require the county names shall be corcommissioners to correct the mistake or omission, or to show cause why they should rected. not. Ibid. § 16. Number of ballots 140. The county commissioners of each county shall provide for each election district in which an election is to be held, one set of such ballots of not less than seventy-five for every fifty and fraction of fifty voters therein, as contained upon the to be printed. assessor's list. They shall also prepare full instructions for the guidance of voters, Instructions for as to obtaining ballots, as to the manner of marking them and the method of gain- guidance of voters. ing assistance, and as to obtaining new ballots in place of those accidentally spoiled; and they shall respectively cause the same, together with copies of sections thirty to thirty-five inclusive of this act, to be printed in large, clear type on separate cards, to be called Cards of Instruction. 141. They shall also, in addition to the number of tickets required to be printed Ibid. for general distribution, have printed five hundred official and one hundred sample official and sample 142. They shall also cause to be printed on tinted paper and without the fac- Ibid. Specimen ballots. Ibid. Two copies of the 143. They shall also provide for each election district at every election therein, two copies of the assessor's lists of voters, and shall deliver the same as such lists are now delivered, one copy to be called the "ballot check list," for the inspectors assessor's list. in charge of the ballots, and the other copy to be called the "voting check list," to Ballot check list. be used in marking the name of those who have voted and the number of their Voting check list. ballots as now required by law. Ibid. § 17. How ballots to be 144. The ballots, together with the specimen ballots and cards of instruction printed by the county commissioners as herein provided, shall be packed by them in separate sealed packages with marks on the outside clearly designating the elec- packed for tion districts for which they are intended, and the number of ballots of each kind delivery. inclosed. 145. They shall then be sent by the county commissioners of the respective Ibid. |