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LAW LIBRARY. VERSITY OF MINNESOT

LAWS AND RESOLUTIONS

CHAPTER 1.

(House Roll No. 1.)

[Introduced by Crist Anderson, C. W. Trumble, C. Petrus Peterson, Denn
H. Cronin, Soren Fries, J. N. Norton, James H. Craddock, J. E.
Jacobson, Lloyd Thomas, Dwight S. Dalbey, Jacob Sass,

P. B. Neff, J. J. Shannon, George Jackson and
Senator Lahners.]

AN ACT to enable qualified electors in the military or naval service of the State of Nebraska or of the United States to exercise the right of suffrage while absent from the State in such military or naval service; to regulate the exercise of suffrage; to make an appropriation for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act; to provide penalties, to repeal Chapter 177 of the laws of 1917; to repeal all acts or parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this Act; and to declare an emergency.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Nebraska:

Section 1. Elections-Soldiers' votes. - Notwithstanding any more general law respecting the time or manner of voting for candidates for office at any general or primary election, or the time or manner of voting on any question submitted to a popular vote at a general election, or at any primary or general election in any city where registration of votes is required by law, all qualified electors, in war time, or after peace but before demobilization, in the actual military or naval service of this State or of the United States, in the army or navy thereof, and by reason thereof absent from the State on any election day, shall be entitled to exercise the right of suffrage and to vote at such elections in the manner and form provided for in this Act.

Sec. 2. Election commission.-The Secretary of State is hereby made the State Election Commissioner. To facilitate in the discharge of the duties imposed by the provisions of this Act, the

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Card Index

(Ch. 1 Secretary of State shall appoint two qualified electors to assist him. These appointees shall be known as Assistant State Election Commissioners. The State Election Commissioner and said Assistant State Election Commissioners shall comprise a body to be known as the State Election Commission. Hereafter, in this Act, the State Election Commissioner shall be referred to as "Commissioner"; his assistants as "Assistant Commissioners"; and the State Election Commission as "Commission." The two Assistant Commissioners provided for in this section shall be appointed by the Secretary of State from a list of names to be recommended and submitted to the Secretary of State by the State Chairmen of the two political parties that received the highest percentage of votes at the previous general election. The Chairman of the State Committee of each of these parties shall submit a list of three persons in each of said parties, and from this list the Secretary of State shall select one Assistant Commissioner from each of said parties. Assistant Commissioners shall take the same oath as that taken by executive state officers, and shall give a bond, to be approved by the Secretary of State in such sum as he may fix. The Assistant Commissioners provided for in this section shall be appointed as herein required within thirty days after this Act takes effect, and the term of the first Assistant Commissioners that are appointed shall expire on the first day of January, 1919, and the successors to the first appointees shall thereafter be appointed for a term of two years. Any vacancy in the office of Assistant Commissioner shall be filled in the same manner as that provided for in this section. The person appointed shall serve the unexpired term. The Assistant Commissioners shall each receive a per diem of Five Dollars and traveling expenses for each and every day that they are necessarily employed in discharging their duties. The Commission shall have general charge and supervision of the administration of the provisions of this Act, and shall impartially discharge all duties imposed upon them and shall so administer the provisions of this Act as to carry out its true purpose and intent. It shall adopt an official seal.

Sec. 3. Card index-Register.-The Governor shall immediately prepare and make a card index, on which shall be entered the names of voters of this State who are now absent or

Ch. 1)

Card Index

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may hereafter be absent from their respective election districts in time of war, serving in the army, navy or other part of the military service of this State or of the United States. The index cards of the voters shall be arranged in alphabetical order for each county, and also for each city in this State where registra- ́ tion of voters is required by law. In counties that include a city in which registration is required, two card indexes shalı be kept; one containing the names of all absent voters in the territory in said county outside of said city; the other containing the names of all absent voters within the city. Such index register shall contain on each card the name of the voter, as it appears on the records of the war or navy department, his post office address, the county, precinct or city in which said voter has a legal residence,; if he resides in a city, his street or residence number, or such other description as will identify the place of his residence. Said cards shall contain the name or number or other designation of the Division, Regiment, Company, Troop, Vessel or other command in which the absent voter is serving at the time of such entry, so far as the Governor cau ascertain the same. If there are military reasons why this information should not be placed on a card, a record of the same shall be preserved in the office of the Governor. The Governor shall obtain from the proper military or naval authorities of the nation, or from any other source that is available and expedient, the information required to carry out the provisions of this Act. In the future, the Governor shall keep a complete card index in accordance with the provisions of this section, not only of those who are now in the army or navy of the United States, but also of those who may in the future enter the military service of the State or of the United States in any capacity. The Governor shall make a copy of the names of the various absent voters which shall be known as a general register and shall be a public record and shall, at all seasonable times, be open to inspection. This register shall be a copy as near as may be of the information set forth in the card index. The names shall appear in alphabetical order for each county, except in counties which include a city where registration is required by law, the names of the voters inside of said city and those outside of such city shall be arranged in separate lists in alphabetical order. The Governor

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Soldiers' Ballots

(Ch. 1 shall revise and correct the index cards and the register herein provided so that said cards and the records of the Governor's office, will as near as may be, correctly report the information relating to absent voters as required by the provisions of this Act. The Governor shall file with the Commissioner at least thirty days before a statewide, general or primary election, a copy of the general register as shown by the records of said office as revised and corrected to the date of its filing. The Governor shall file with the City Clerk, or other officer having charge of the preparation of the ballots and the conduct of an election in any city in which registration of voters is required by law, at least thirty days before any general or primary election in said city, a copy of said general register in so far as it relates to the absent voters in said cities. Said copy shall contain the information that appears on the general register in the Governor's office, revised and corrected up to the time of furnishing the same to the said city. Every public officer and every citizen, when requested so to do in writing by the Governor or the Commission, shall furnish to the Governor such information as he may possess relating to absent voters who are in the military service of the State or of the United States. Any person who shall refuse to furnish said information or shall wilfully furnish false information with reference to such absent voter, shall be deemed guilty of a felony and shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for any period not more than three years.

Commission shall

Sec. 4. Soldiers' ballots-Oath.-The cause to be prepared and printed at least twenty-five days before any statewide primary sufficient primary ballots to supply each absent voter who at the time is stationed within the Continental United States with at least one ballot for each political party that has polled ten per cent, or more, of the total vote cast at the previous general election. Said ballots shall be prepared and arranged in accordance with the laws relating to the preparation and arrangement of primary ballots, except that the names of candidates for office that are to be elected in smaller subdivisions than the State shall be omitted therefrom. Said ballots shall have printed thereon, under the proper office division, the names of all offices for which candidates are to be nominated at

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