34 



ARKANSAS. 



SEC. 32. Any person who shall furnish an elector 

 with a ticket or ballot, who cannot read ? informing 

 him that it contains a name or names difterent from 

 those which are written or printed thereon, or who 

 shall fraudulently change the ballot of any elector, 

 by which such elector shall be prevented from voting 

 for such candidate or candidates as he intended, shall, 

 upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not less 

 than two hundred dollars, nor more than five hun- 

 dred dollars. 



SEO. 33. Any person who shall cause, by menace, 

 threats, or violence, or other means, any elector to 

 cast his vote against his will or inclination, or shall, 

 by threats, violence, menace, or otherwise, prevent 

 any legal voter from voting at any election author- 

 ized by the constitution and laws of this State, 

 shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on convic- 

 tion thereof, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary 

 not more than three years, nor less than one year. 



SEO. 34. All persons, who present a certificate of 

 registration, and whose names appear on the list 

 of voters furnished the judge of election, shall be 

 entitled to vote at any and all elections authorized 

 by the constitution and laws of this State, and no 

 challenge shall be allowed to debar such person from 

 voting. The clerks of elections shall enter the 

 names of electors on the poll-books in the order in 

 which they present their ballots. The judge of the 

 election, after the elector has voted, shall write the 

 word "voted" on the registration certificate, date 

 the same, and sign his name thereto. 



SEO. 35. The clerks of election, after the ballots 

 shall have been counted, shall make out an abstract 

 and attach the same to the poll-book, showing the 

 whole number of votes cast for each person voted 

 for, and the office for which the vote was cast. The 

 abstract shall be certified by the judge and attested 

 by the clerks, and, before dispersing, one of the poll- 

 books shall be put under cover, and it shall be deliv- 

 ered to the county clerk by the judge of election, 

 within three days after the closing of the polls. The 

 other poll-book shall remain in the hands of the 

 judge of election. 



Five days after the election, the county 

 clerks are to open and compare the several 

 returns, and make an abstract of them, which 

 shall be forwarded within two days to the 

 Secretary of State. An abstract of votes giv- 

 en for Governor is also to be forwarded to the 

 Speaker of the House of Eepresentatives, and 

 an abstract of those given for presidential 

 electors to be forwarded to the Governor. 

 The Secretary of State is to open all the re- 

 turns of votes for members of Congress on 

 the last Monday in December, in the presence 

 of the Governor, and cast up and arrange the 

 votes from the several counties, and the Gov- 

 ernor is to make proclamation of the result, 

 and furnish the successful candidates with 

 certificates of election. The Secretary of 

 State is to make a roll of the members of each 

 House of the Legislature as elected, and the 

 returns of the vote for Governor are to be 

 opened in presence of both Houses of the 

 General Assembly, at the beginning of the ses- 

 sion, and the result is then and there to be 

 published. The following is an additional pro- 

 vision regarding persons whom the assessors 

 have refused to register : 



SECTION 45. In all cases where a person has ap- 

 plied for registration, and has been refused, and no 

 determination has been made of the application for 

 mandamus, to compel the assessor to phice the name 

 of such person on the registration list, and such ag- 



grieved person desires to vote at any election under 

 the provisions of the " enforcement act " of Congress, 

 such person shall be entitled to vote at all elections 

 protected by said enforcement act, by presenting to 

 the judge of election a written or printed affidavit, 

 taken before some officer authorized by law to ad- 

 minister oaths, containing the elector's oath as pre- 

 scribed in section five of Article VIII. of the con- 

 stitution of the State of Arkansas. The judge of 

 election shall retain said affidavit, and the clerks of 

 election shall note the word " affidavit " after the 

 name of every person voting under the provisions of 

 this section. 



There was a vigorous opposition to the bill 

 in the House of Representatives. One speak- 

 er characterized it as an outrage. "If there 

 is a law on the statute-books more damnable 

 than another," he said, " it is the present regis- 

 tration law, and the one you propose to pass is 

 tenfold worse than that. The Governor, un- 

 der this law, can control every election he sees 

 proper." 



The act, however, passed the House by a 

 vote of 37 to 24. 



Several acts were passed relating to the 

 finances of the State. Among these was a 

 new law for regulating the assessment and 

 collection of taxes, and an act authorizing the 

 issue of 300 bonds of $1,000 each, bearing 

 seven per cent, interest, to provide for the pay- 

 ment of interest on the State debt. An act 

 was also passed authorizing the Treasurer, 

 when Auditor's warrants are presented, and 

 there is no money to pay them, to issue certifi- 

 cates on bank-note paper in sums of one, two, 

 five, and ten dollars, bearing eight per cent, in- 

 terest, the same to be receivable for all taxes, 

 except interest on the public debt. There was 

 some vigorous opposition to this act, one of 

 the members giving the following reasons for 

 voting against it : 



1. Because the chief object of the bill is to create 

 a medium of exchange within the State, Avhich will 

 operate as, and have the effect of, a currency. 



2. Because there is no substantial basis upon 

 which currency may be safely issued. 



3. Because the issuing of such certificates will have 

 the effect of inflating the currency within the State, 

 in proportion as the same are issued, and will have 

 the further effect of depreciating the credit of the 

 State in like proportion. 



4. Because it is unreasonable to require the people 

 to pay interest on a debt which has been created in a 

 great measure by the mismanagement of their ser- 

 vants, when these servants are the parties to be most 

 directly benefited by the issuance of such certifi- 

 cates. 



5. Because additional expense will be necessarily 

 caused the State to carry out the provisions of said 

 bill, without attaining a corresponding benefit. 



Other acts of some importance were passed, 

 as follows : placing the penitentiary under the 

 management of a State superintendent; ex- 

 empting from taxation for five years all capital 

 employed in manufactures and mining; pro- 

 viding for the incorporation of institutions of 

 learning; for the location, organization, and 

 maintenance of the Arkansas Industrial Uni- 

 versity, with a normal department ; authoriz- 

 ing the appointment of a State geologist ; pro- 

 viding for a digest of the statutes ; a code of 



