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LAWS

OF THE

STATE OF FLORIDA,

ADOPTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF FLORIDA AT ITS

FIRST SESSION, 1868,

UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF A. D. 1868.

CHAPTER 1,625.-[No. 1.

AN ACT to provide for the Registration of Electors, and the holding of Elections.

GENERAL ELECTIONS.

Day of gener

SECTION 1. The people of the State of Florida, Fepresented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: A general clection shall be held in the several counties in this State on the al election. Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday in November in cach year, in which elections are to be held for such of the following. officers as are to elected, that is to say: A Governor, anl. Lieutenant Governor, State Senators, and members of the As. sembly, and such county officers as are to be elected in such year, as provided by the Constitution and laws.

Year of elec tion for officers

SEC. 2. A Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be elected in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and every four years thereafter; State Senators in the even numbered districts, to be elected. in the year eighteen hundred and seventy, and every four years thereafter; Senators in the odd-numbered districts in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and every four years thereafter; and members of the Assembly in the year eighteen hundred and seventy, and every two years thereafter; constables and such other county officers as may be elected by the people, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy, and every two years thereafter.

Special elecbe held.

SPECIAL ELECTIONS.

SEC. 3. Special elections may be held in the following cases: I. Where there has been no choice, at any election of a Representative in Congress, Senator, member of Assembly, or of any county officer who should have been properly elected at a general election;

II. When the right of any person to hold the office of Senator, member of Assembly, or of any county office, shall cease before the commencement of the term for which he shall have been elected;

III. When a vacancy shall occur in any of the said offices, except Senators and members of the Assembly, by death, resigtions when to nation, removal, or otherwise, more than three months before the next general election, and in case of a vacancy in the offices of Senator or member of Assembly, a special election shall not be held unless a session of the Legislature shall be held after the vacancy occurs, and before a general election.

for holding elections.

IV. When, in any other case of a vacancy, not particularly provided for, the Governor shall, in his discretion, direct, special elections shall be conducted, and the result thereof canvassed, and certified in all respects in like manner as general elections.

SEC. 4. Special elections for any office, except county offices, under the proclamation of the Governor, to be issued not less Proclamation than fifteen or more than forty days from the day of the publication of such proclamation; and in the case of county officers, under the proclamation of the sheriff of the county, to be issued not less than ten or more than twenty days before the holding thereof, and shall be held at the places where the last general election was held, unless otherwise ordered by the board of bounty commissioners, and designated in such proclamation. A copy of such proclamation of the sheriff shall be by him furnished to the clerk of the circuit court, to be recorded in the book provided for recording election returns.

Notice of gen

be published.

NOTIFYING ELECTIONS.

SEC. 5. The Secretary of State shall, between the first days of July and September in any year in which a general election shall be held, make out and cause to be delivered to the sheriff of each county a notice, stating what offices and vacancies are to be eral elections to filled at such general election in the State, county, or district, and shall cause a copy of such notice to be published at least sixty days prior to the day of holding the election, in one or more newspapers printed at the seat of government, at least once in each week, until the holding of the election. And the sheriff shall cause a copy of such notice to be published in a newspaper printed in his county, if there be such paper, and if there be no such paper printed in his county, he shall cause at least five

copies of such notice to be posted in the most public places in the county.

QUALIFICATIONS AND DISABILITIES OF ELECTORS, AND REGISTRA

TION.

SEC. 6. Every male person of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, of whatever race, color, nationality, or previous condition, who shall at the time of offering to vote be a citizen of the United States, or who shall have declared his intention to become such in conformity to the laws of the United States, and who shall have resided and had his habitation, domicil, home, and place of permanent abode in Florida one year, and in the county for six months, next preceding the election at which he shall offer to vote, shall in such county be deemed a qualified elector at all elections; Provided, That the following classes of persons shall not be entitled to vote:

I. Persons under guardianship;

II. Persons who are insane or idiotic;

III. Persons hereafter convicted of felony, bribery, perjury, larceny, or other infamous crime;

IV. Persons convicted of fighting a duel with deadly weapons, or sending or accepting a challenge to fight a duel, or of knowingly being the bearer of a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons, or of the acceptance of such challenge;

V. Persons convicted of making, or becoming directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager, the result of which shall depend upon any election; but this prohibition shall cease after the expiration of two years from the commission of the

offence.

SEC. 7. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the circuit court in each county to prepare suitable books or lists, as hereinafter designated, for the registration of the names of all electors residing within such county, [in] which book or list shall be written or printed the oath required by the constitution and laws to be taken by electors. Such oath shall be entered in such book or list preceding the name[s] of electors, and such names shall be entered in said book or list in such manner that all surnames commencing with the same letter shall be placed together, in the order of their registration. Immediately after the passage of this act the clerk of the circuit court in each county shall give notice, by publication or otherwise, for one month, that the books of registration are open. The said oath shall be administered by said clerk or one of his deputies, and the name of the elector shall be written by himself, (or, at his request, by the clerk or deputy,) and in his presence, and the date of such registration shall be noted opposite to such name by said clerk or deputy. The following oath shall be taken by each person before his name shall be registered, to wit:

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