ARKANSAS. 



33 



SECTION 1. The following class of persons shall not 

 bo permitted to register, vote, or hold office, in this 

 State : 



Persons who may have been convicted before any 

 court of this State, or of the United States, or of any 

 other State, of any crime punishable by law with 

 death, or confinement in the penitentiary : Provided, 

 That any person disfranchised under this section, 

 who may be pardoned, or his sentence commuted, 

 such pardon or commutation of sentence shall remove 

 all disabilities imposed by this section. 



Paupers, idiots, and insane persona. 



SEC. 2. Every male person who lias attained the 

 age of twenty-one years, and who is a citizen of the 

 United States, or who has legally declared his inten- 

 tion to become a citizen thereof, who shall have re- 

 sided in this State six months, and in the county in 

 which he offered his vote ten days next preceding 

 the election, shall be deemed a qualified elector, and 

 entitled to vote, if registered, unless disqualified by 

 some one of the clauses of section one of this article. 



SEC. 8. In all elections by the people, the electors 

 shall vote by ballot. The secrecy of the ballot shall be 

 preserved inviolate, and the General Assembly shall 

 provide suitable laws for that purpose. 



On the day of an election held by the people, no 

 elector shall be subject to arrest on any civil process. 



The General Assembly shall pass adequate laws to 

 prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors on the day on 

 which any election by the people may be held. 



A new registration act was also adopted, af- 

 ter much discussion and a good deal of amend- 

 ing. It provides that all elections for State or 

 Federal officers shall occur on the Tuesday af- 

 ter the first Monday in November of the even- 

 numbered years. The county courts in each 

 year in which an election occurs are required 

 to revise the formation of election districts, 

 and designate a place in each where the ballot- 

 ing shall take place. The county assessor, in 

 the month of August of these years, is to at- 

 tend one day in each election district, " for the 

 purpose of adding to the registration list the 

 names of such persons as he may find to be 

 qualified voters, whose names do not already 

 appear " on the said list, five days' notice be- 

 ing given of the time and place of registration. 

 The Governor may set aside the registration 

 and order a new one in any county if he has 

 satisfactory evidence that the first was "falsely 

 or fraudulently made." The assessor has au- 

 thority to examine every person under oath 

 who applies for registration, regarding his quali- 

 fication, and may refuse to enter his name if he 

 find-s him disqualified to vote. 



Any person so refused, if he feels aggrieved, 

 can apply to a judge of the Circuit Court for a 

 mandamus, directing his registration. The 

 assessor has power to furnish a certificate to 

 any person whose name has been registered, 

 showing that the person therein named is enti- 

 tled to vote at subsequent elections. On the 

 third Tuesday before the election, and for five 

 subsequent days, the assessor is required to at- 

 tend at the court-house of the county to re- 

 vise and complete the lists. Two copies of the 

 registry are to be made, one for the judge of 

 election for State officers and one for the judge 

 of election for Presidential electors and mem- 

 bers of Congress. These judges, with alter- 

 nates and the clerks of election, are to be ap- 

 VOL. xi. 3 A 



pointed by the assessor. In case neither the 

 judge nor his alternate appears at the polling- 

 place, the electors may choose a judge of elec- 

 tion. The further powers of the assessors are 

 defined in the following sections : 



SECTION 17. Each assessor, while discharging the 

 duties imposed by this act, shall have and exercise 

 the power of the Circuit Court, for the preservation 

 of order at and around the place of registration, and 

 may summon and compel the attendance of witnesses 

 for the purpose of ascertaining the qualifications of 

 persons applying for registration, and may issue 

 subpoenas, attachments, and commitments to the 

 sheriff, or any constable, whose duty it shall be to 

 serve such process as if issued by such court, and 

 shall receive the same fees therefor as may be allowed 

 by law for similar services. 



SEC. 18. Any person offering or threatening vio- 

 lence to the assessor while engaged in the duty of 

 registering, or disturbing or resisting him in any way 

 from the performance of his duty, or who shall, by 

 intimidation, bribery, imposition, deceit, or fraud, or 



by any other improper or illegal influence, prevent 

 or hinder persons from going to the place of registra- 

 tion, or from registering, shall be deemed guilty of 

 a felony, and on conviction thereof shall be punished 

 by confinement in the penitentiary not less than two 

 years nor more than five years, at the discretion of 

 the court. 



Any registered voter, removing from one 

 county to another, may be registered in the 

 latter, on presenting his registration certificate 

 to the assessor. Provision is made for the 

 punishment of false swearing with regard to 

 one's qualifications to vote. The judges and 

 clerks of election are required to take an oath 

 that they are not disfranchised, that they will 

 honestly and faithfully support the Constitu- 

 tion and laws of the United States, and of the 

 State of Arkansas, and will perform their du- 

 ties to the best of their knowledge and ability, 

 studiously endeavoring to " prevent fraud and 

 deceit in conducting the election." Separate 

 registration lists and ballot-boxes, provided by 

 the county court, are to be used for State and 

 Federal officers. The judges of election have 

 power to preserve order, and punish disorderly 

 persons by fine or imprisonment. The follow- 

 ing provision is made regarding the sale of in- 

 toxicating liquors : 



SECTION 28. During the holding of any election, 

 under the provisions of this act, all public bar-rooms, 

 saloons, or other places where intoxicating or malt 

 liquors are sold by retail, shall be closed from five 

 o'clock A. M. of the day of the election until ten o'clock 

 p. M. of the day of the election ; and, if any person 

 shall sell or give away any intoxicating or malt liquor, 

 between the hours above mentioned on the day on 

 which an election is held, such person shall be 

 deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction 

 thereof, shall be fined not less than three hundred 

 dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars, and 

 shall be imprisoned in the county jail for not less 

 than sixty days. 



The following are the provisions regarding 

 the conduct of the election : 



SECTION 81. It shall be the duty of the judge of 

 election, immediately before the proclamation is made 

 of the opening of the polls, to open the ballot-box 

 in the presence of the people then assembled, and 

 turn it upside down, so as to empty it of any thing 

 it may contain, and then lock it ; and it shall no-t 

 again'be opened until the polls are closed. 



