Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 106

REGISTRATION OF VOTERS

GENERAL REGISTRATION; SUPPLEMENTARY REGISTRATION; NEW SETS OF BOOKS SUPPLIED; WHEN; NEW GENERAL REGISTRATION; WHEN AND HOW MADE

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 56, REVISED CODE OF DEL. AWARE, 1935, RELATING TO REGISTRATION OF VOTERS, BY THE REPEAL OF 1717. SEC. 12, AND BY SUBSTITUTING IN LIEU THEREOF A NEW SECTION TO BE KNOWN AS 1717. SEC. 12.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:

Section 1. That Chapter 56 of the Revised Code of Delaware, 1935, be and the same is hereby amended by striking out and repealing all of 1717. Sec. 12, and by substituting in lieu thereof a new section to be known as 1717. Sec. 12, as follows:

1717. Sec. 12. General Registration in 1940, Permanent; Electors Need Not Register Again, Unless etc.; Supplementary Registration After 1940; New Sets of Registration Books Supplied; When; New General Registration; When and How Made:--The Registration made under the provisions of this Chapter in the year 1940, in each election district of this State, shall be known as "The General Registration of Qualified Voters

Election District of

Representative District in

County". No person who

shall have registered in said General Registration and whose name appears in the said General Registration as a registered voter shall be required to register again in 1942, or in any subsequent year unless he shall cease to be a resident of the election district in which he was thus registered, or unless his name shall be stricken from the said general registration as hereinafter provided, or unless a new general registration shall be had in the election district in which he is a resident, as hereafter in this section provided.

The registration made in each year in which there is a general election, after the year 1940, in each election district of this State, shall be known as "The Supplementary Registration

of Qualified Voters in

Election District of

Representative District in County

for the year " No person whose name appears in any such supplementary registration as a registered voter shall be required to register again in any subsequent year unless he shall cease to be a resident of the election district in which he was thus registered, or unless he shall cease to possess the qualifications of a voter under the Constitution and laws of this State, or unless his name shall be stricken from the said supplementary registration as hereinafter provided, or unless a new general registration shall be had in the election district in which he is a resident as hereafter in this Section provided.

The books known as "Registers" and the books known as "Books of Registered Voters", which were used in making the general registration for the year 1940, shall also be used in making the supplementary registrations in succeeding years, until said "Registers" and "Books of Registered Voters" shall become so filled with entries that they can no longer be conveniently used for such purposes.

The first supplementary registration succeeding the general registration of the year 1940 shall start in the Registers immediately after the general registration as follows :

On each page of the Register where the entry of the close of a general registration appears as hereinbefore. provided, the Registrar shall write the words "The Supplementary Registration of Qualified Voters in

Election District of Representative

District in County for the year ", and shall, on the line immediately below such entry, begin with the entries concerning persons applying for registration at such supplementary registration.

Each subsequent supplementary registration shall be headed by the entry "The Supplementary Registration of Qualified

Voters in Election District

of Representative District in

County for the year Such entry shall be written by the Registrar on each page of the Register where the entry of the close of the preceding supplementary registration appears as hereinbefore provided. Immediately following such entry shall begin the entries concerning applicants for registration at such supplementary registration.

If, after the year 1940, or at the completion of the supplementary registration in any year, it shall appear that the Registers containing the registration in any election district, or the Books of Registered Voters of any District will not be available for a supplementary registration, either from lack of space or because the Registers have become worn, or for any other reason whatever, it shall be the duty of the Boards of Registration in their respective Registration Department Districts to examine all the Registration Books immediately after their delivery as aforesaid, and to notify the Governor forthwith whether any and what Registration Books will be required for subsequent registration in any election district in this State, in their respective Registration Department Districts, and it shall be the duty of the Governor at least five days prior to the first day in April, in the year of holding the next succeeding general election, to furnish to the said Boards of Registration all Registration Books needed in any election district in their respective Registration Department Districts for subsequent registration as aforesaid, of the form and design hereinbefore provided, and the books so delivered shall become and be the "Registers" or "Books of Registered Voters" for supplementary registration in said election district, and the "Registers" shall be endorsed upon the back and at the head of each thereof with the words "Supplementary

Register of Election

District of Representative

District in County" together with

the day, month and year when the same were received by the Registrar. The Registers so received shall be known as "Supplementary Registers" and all the provisions of this Chapter relative to Registers shall apply to them. The Books of Registered Voters supplied as aforesaid shall be known as "Supplementary Books of Registered Voters" for the district for which they were furnished and shall be so endorsed, and all the provisions of this Chapter relative to Books of Registered Voters shall apply to them.

If any Register containing the general registration for the year 1940, or any supplementary registration in any election district, or if the Books of Registered Voters of any Election District, shall be lost or destroyed, or become mutilated or defaced, so that they are no longer available, then and in such event it shall be the duty of the Board of Registration of the Registration Department District in which any such election district is located to certify such fact to the Governor, who shall, prior to the first day in April of the year of holding the general election next succeeding, supply the said Board of Registration in which any such election district is located with the necessary books for a new general registration in such district, of the same form and design as hereinbefore described. And it shall be the duty of the Board of Registration of each Registration Department District to examine all the Registration Books immediately after the delivery to them as in this Chapter provided, and if they shall find that any of the Registration Books of any election district of their District are missing or mutilated Or defaced, so that they are no longer available for registration purposes, they shall certify the fact to the Governor; or if any Registration Books shall, after their delivery as aforesaid, be lost or destroyed or become mutilated or defaced, so that they are no longer available for registration purposes, they shall certify this fact to the Governor; and the Governor shall supply

all Registration Books that may be needed in any election district for any of the causes aforesaid, prior to the first day of April in the year of holding the next succeeding general election, to be used for a new general registration in such district, the said books to be of the same form and design as herein-before described. The Registrar of such election district shall endorse on the back and at the head of the first page of each of said books the same entry as in the case of the original books, except that he shall prefix the word "duplicate" at the beginning of such endorsement, and he shall add the date on which the said books were received by him and shall sign each such endorsement. The said books shall be known as the Duplicate Registers or Duplicate Books of Registered Voters for

Election District of

Representative District of

County. It shall be the duty of the

registration officers to register in the Duplicate Registers aforesaid the names of all qualified voters in such election district, and to that end to sit for the purpose of ascertaining and registering the persons who are qualified to enjoy the right of an elector in said election district at the general election to be held in such year, and who shall apply in person for registration, at the places and on the days stated in the advertisement hereinafter provided for, from eight o'clock A. M. until seven o'clock P. M., with an intermission from twelve to one o'clock. In making such new general registration the registration officers shall, in the same manner as provided in Section 9 of this Chapter, record in the Registers the names of all persons applying in person for registration, and shall enter opposite each name the statements and facts set forth in the said Section 9, and they shall make up the Books of Registered Voters in the same manner as provided in Section 11 of this Chapter. The Board of Registration of the Registration Department District in which any such election district is located, shall, at least ten days prior to the first day set for the purpose of registration as aforesaid, give public notice, by advertisements posted in ten or more of the most public places in such election district, that the original Registers are no longer available and that it has become necessary to have another general registration in said election district, and of the places where the registration officers shall sit for the registration of voters as aforesaid and the day or days when they will sit at each of said places.

Provided, however, that no new general registration need be had in any election district because of the loss, destruction, mutilation or defacement of any of the Registration Books if one of the "Registers" and one of the "Books of Registered Voters" of such district be intact, but in such event it shall be the duty of the Board of Registration of said Registration Department District to make or have made a full and exact transcription from the intact "Register" of all the entries appearing therein, into the new "Register" supplied by the Governor as aforesaid, and to make a full and exact transcription from the intact "Book of Registered Voters" of all the entries appearing therein, into the new "Book of Registered Voters" supplied by the Governor as aforesaid. Such transcription shall be verified by the oath or affirmation of all the members of the said Board of Registration of the said Registration Department District, and the affidavit, signed by them, shall be appended to each book in which the transcription has been made as aforesaid. Provided, however, that names struck from the list of registered voters under the provisions of this Chapter shall not be copied into the new "Register" or "Book of Registered Voters."

Provided further that the Board of Registration of any registration department district may, at any time that it shall deem necessary, transcribe or cause to be transcribed any "Register" or "Book of Registered Voters".

Provided, further, that when a "Register" or "Book of Registered Voters" has been transcribed as hereinbefore provided for, the said "Register" or "Book of Registered Voters" shall be compared as to their correctness by a representative of each of the two leading political parties.

The cost of transcribing and comparing and all necessary expense connected therewith (except registration books furnished by the Governor as in this Chapter provided) shall be paid by the Levy Court of the County wherein the election district is located.

Approved April 2, 1943.