*SEC. 2. No person who shall receive, expect, or offer to receive, or pay, offer or promise to pay, contribute, offer or promise to contribute to another, to be paid or used, any money or other valuable thing as a compensation or reward for the giving or withholding a vote at an election, or who shall make any promise to influence the giving or withholding any such vote, or who shall make or become directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of any election, shall vote at such election; and upon challenge for such cause, the person so challenged, before the officers authorized for that purpose shall receive his vote, shall swear or affirm before such officers that he has not received or offered, does not expect to receive, has not paid, offered or promised to pay, contributed, offered or promised to contribute to another, to be paid or used, any money or other valuable thing as a compensation or reward for the giving or withholding a vote at such election, and has not made any promise to influence the giving or withholding of any such vote, nor made or become directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of such election. The Legislature, at the session thereof next after the adoption of this section, shall, and from time to time thereafter may, enact laws excluding from the right of suffrage all persons convicted of bribery or of any infamous crime.

SEC. 3. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have gained or lost a residence, by reason of his presence or absence, while employed in the service of the United States; nor while engaged in the navigation of the waters of this State, or of the United States, or of the high seas; nor while a student of any seminary of learning; nor while kept at any alms-house, or other asylum, at public expense; nor while confined in any public prison.

* As amended by vote of the people, November 3, 1874.

SEC. 4. Laws shall be made for ascertaining by proper proofs the citizens who shall be entitled to the right of suffrage hereby established.

SEC. 5. All elections by the citizens shall be by ballot, except for such town officers as may by law be directed to be otherwise chosen.

ARTICLE III.

SECTION 1. The legislative power of this State shall be vested in a Senate and Assembly.

SEC. 2. The Senate shall consist of thirty-two members, and the Senators shall be chosen for two years. The Assembly shall consist of one hundred and twenty-eight members, who shall be annually elected.

SEC. 3. The State shall be divided into thirty-two districts, to be called Senate districts, each of which shall choose one Senator. The districts shall be numbered from one to thirty-two inclusive.*

District number One (1) shall consist of the counties of Suffolk, Richmond and Queens.

District number Two (2) shall consist of the county of Kings.

Districts number Three (3), number Four (4), number Five (5), and number Six (6) shall consist of the city and county of New York. And the board of supervisors of said city and county shall, on or before the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, divide the said city and county into the number of Senate districts, to which it is entitled, as near as may be of an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens and persons of color not taxed, and consisting of convenient and contiguous territory; and no Assembly district shall be divided in the formation of a Senate district. The board of supervisors,

For existing Senate districts, see chapter 208, Laws of 1879.

when they shall have completed such division, shall cause certificates thereof, stating the number and boundaries of each district and the population thereof, to be filed in the office of the Secretary of State, and of the clerk of said city and county.

District number Seven (7) shall consist of the counties of Westchester, Putnam and Rockland.

District number Eight (8) shall consist of the counties of Dutchess and Columbia.

District number Nine (9) shall consist of the counties of Orange and Sullivan.

District number Ten (10) shall consist of the counties of Ulster and Greene.

District number Eleven (11) shall consist of the counties of Albany and Schenectady.

District number Twelve (12) shall consist of the county of Rensselaer.

District number Thirteen (13) shall consist of the counties of Washington and Saratoga.

District number Fourteen (14) shall consist of the counties of Warren, Essex and Clinton.

District number Fifteen (15) shall consist of the counties of St. Lawrence and Franklin.

District number Sixteen (16) shall consist of the counties of Herkimer, Hamilton, Fulton and Montgomery.

District number Seventeen (17) shall consist of the counties of Schoharie and Delaware.

District number Eighteen (18) shall consist of the counties of Otsego and Chenango.

District number Nineteen (19) shall consist of the county of Oneida.

District number Twenty (20) shall consist of the counties of Madison and Oswego.

District number Twenty-one (21) shall consist of the counties of Jefferson and Lewis.

2

District number Twenty-two (22) shall consist of the county of Onondaga.

District number Twenty-three (23) shall consist of the counties of Cortland, Broome and Tioga.

District number Twenty-four (24) shall consist of the counties of Cayuga and Wayne.

District number Twenty-five (25) shall consist of the counties of Tompkins, Seneca and Yates.

District number Twenty-six (26) shall consist of the counties of Steuben and Chemung.

District number Twenty-seven (27) shall consist of the county of Monroe.

District number Twenty-eight (28) shall consist of the counties of Orleans, Genesee and Niagara.

District number Twenty-nine (29) shall consist of the counties of Ontario and Livingston.

District number Thirty (30) shall consist of the counties of Allegany and Wyoming.

District number Thirty-one (31) shall consist of the county of Erie.

District number Thirty-two (32) shall consist of the counties of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus.

SEC. 4. An enumeration of the inhabitants of the State shall be taken, under the direction of the Legislature, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, and at the end of every ten years thereafter; and the said districts shall be so altered by the Legislature, at the first session after the return of every enumeration, that each Senate district shall contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, and persons of color not taxed; and shall remain unaltered until the return of another enumeration, and shall at all times consist of contiguous territory; and no county shall be divided in the formation of a Senate district, except such county shall be equitably entitled to two or more Senators.

*SEC. 5. The Assembly shall consist of one hundred and twenty-eight members, elected for one year. The members of Assembly shall be apportioned among the several counties of the State, by the Legislature, as nearly as may be, according to the number of their respective inhabitants, excluding aliens, and shall be chosen by single districts.† The Assembly districts shall remain as at present organized, until after the enumeration of the inhabitants of the State, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five. The Legislature, at its first session after the return of every enumeration, shall apportion the Members of Assembly among the several counties of the State, in manner aforesaid, and the board of supervisors in such counties as may be entitled under such apportionment to more than one member, except the city and county of New York, and in said city and county the board of aldermen of said city shall assemble at such time as the Legislature making such apportionment shall prescribe, and divide their respective counties into Assembly districts, each of which districts shall consist of convenient and contiguous territory equal to the number of members of Assembly to which such counties shall be entitled, and shall cause to be filed in the offices of the Secretary of State and the clerks of their respective counties, a description of such districts, specifying the number of each district and the population thereof, according to the last preceding enumeration as near as can be ascertained, and the apportionment and districts shall remain unaltered until another enumeration shall be made as herein provided. No town shall be divided in the formation of Assembly districts. Every county heretofore established and separately organized, except the county of Hamilton, shall always be entitled to one member of the

*As amended by vote of the people, November 3, 1874.

For existing Assembly districts, see chapter 208, Laws of 1879, and lists as apportioned by boards of supervisors.