Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 116

PRIMARY ELECTIONS

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 58, REVISED CODE OF DELAWARE, 1935, RELATING TO PRIMARY ELECTIONS, BY THE REPEAL OF 1776, SEC. 8, RELATING TO VOTING BOOKS OF QUALIFIED VOTERS FOR PRIMARY ELECTIONS; HOW PREPARED; SUPPLEMENTARY OR DUPLICATE BOOKS;--AND BY SUBSTITUTING IN LIEU THEREOF A NEW SECTION TO BE KNOWN AS 1776, SEC. 8.

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

Section 1. That Chapter 58 of the Revised Code of Delaware, 1935, relating to Primary Elections be and the same is hereby amended by repealing 1776, Sec. 8, and by substituting in lieu thereof a new Section to be known as 1776, Sec. 8.

1776. Sec. 8. Voting Books of Qualified Voters For Primary Elections; How Prepared; Supplementary or Duplicate Books:-- Beginning with the year 1942, the registration officers of each election district in New Castle County shall be furnished by the Board of Registration of the Registration Department District comprising New Castle County, and the Registration officers of each election district in Kent County shall be furnished by the Board of Registration of the Registration Department District comprising Kent County, and the registration officers of each election district in Sussex County shall be furnished by the Board of Registration of the Registration Department District comprising Sussex County, as described in 1706. Sec. 1. of Chapter 56 of the Revised Code of Delaware, 1935, as amended, with two books, to be known as Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections, before the first day of any registration of voters in such election district.

And also in each year, after the year 1941, in which a municipal election is held in the City of Wilmington, as provided for in Section 38 of Chapter 56 of the Revised Code of Delaware,

1935, as amended, and in Section 12 of this Chapter, the registration officers of each election district within the said City of Wilmington shall be furnished by the said Board of Registration of the Registration Department District comprising New Castle County, as aforesaid, with two books, to be known as Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections, before the first day of any registration of voters in such election district.

The Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections used in the year 1940, (and in the year 1941 in the said City of Wilmington), shall be used in making subsequent registrations for primary elections, until they shall become so filled with entries that they can no longer be conveniently used for such purpose; or until replaced by Supplementary or Duplicate Books, as hereinafter in this Chapter provided.

Said books shall be ruled in parallel columns and so arranged as to admit of the convenient entry, in alphabetical order, of the name of every person who may be entered on the Registers of said election district as a registered voter, and in the parallel column, opposite the name of said person, the following particulars, to-wit :

First :--His or her residence. Second :--The date of registration.

Said books shall contain twelve parallel columns for the entry of the word "voted", together with the date of voting.

It shall be the duty of the registration officers of each election district to make up the Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections as follows:

They shall enter in the said books, in its proper alphabetical order, the name of every person whose name appears as a registered voter in the Registers and Voting Books of Registered Voters of said election district, (except the name of a person already appearing as a registered voter in the said books), and also his or her residence and the date of registration, so that the said Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections shall contain the names of all the qualified voters of said election district who were registered during the general registration in the year 1940, and any supplementary registration up to and in-chiding the last registration day in the month of August of the year in which said books are made up. They shall, within three days after the last registration day in the month of August aforesaid, complete the making up of said books and shall compare the same with the Registers, and append to each of said books a certificate, verified by oath or affirmation, that they contain an accurate alphabetical list of the names of all persons whose names appear as registered voters in the Registers and Voting Books of Registered Voters of said election district.

And it shall be the duty of the registration officers of each election district within the City of Wilmington to make up the Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections, on the registration day in each year in which a municipal election is held in the said City, beginning with the year 1943, which registration day shall be the third Saturday of April next before the day set for holding the election for municipal officers in the said City, as provided in Section 38, of Chapter 56 of the Revised Code of Delaware, 1935, as amended ; and the said registration officers shall make up the said Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections as follows :

They shall enter in said books, in its proper alphabetical order, the name of every person whose name appears as a registered voter in the Registers and Voting Books of Registered Voters of said election district, (except the name of a person already appearing as a registered voter in the said books), and also his or her residence and date of registration, so that the said Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections of said election district shall contain the names of all the qualified voters of said election district who were registered during each and all of the five general registration days, in the year 1940, and also during any supplementary registration up to and including the last registration day in the month of April of the year in which a municipal election is held in said City and in which year said books are made up. They shall within three days after the said registration day on the third Saturday in April aforesaid, complete the making up of said books and shall compare the same with the Registers and Books of Registered Voters of said election district, and shall append to each of said Books a certificate, verified by oath or affirmation, that they contain an accurate alphabetical list of the names of all persons whose names appear as registered voters in the Registers and Voting Books of Registered Voters of said election district.

It shall be the duty of the Registrar of each election district in New Castle County, including the City of Wilmington, and the Registrar of each election district in Kent County, and the Registrar of each election district in Sussex County, within one secular day after the certification by the registration officers, as herein required, to deliver to the Board of Registration of the Registration Department District of their respective Counties, the two Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections, who shall safely keep the same.

If at the completion of the registration in any year, it shall appear that the Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections in any election district will not be available for a supplementary registration, either from lack of space or because the said Books, or either of them, have become worn, or for any other reason whatever, it shall be the duty of the registration officers to immediately certify this fact to the Board of Registration of the Registration Department District in which the election district is situated. It shall be the duty of the said Boards of Registration of the Registration Department Districts of the several counties to examine all such Books immediately after their delivery to them, as in this Chapter provided, in order to determine whether any and what supplementary books will be required for subsequent registration in any election district in their respective Registration Department Districts.

And in addition to the Books required to be furnished by the said Boards of Registration of the Registration Department Districts of the several counties, as in this Chapter provided, the registration officers of each election district of the several coun-

ties shall be furnished by the said Boards of Registration of the Registration Department Districts of the several counties, on or before the first day of any registration of voters in any year in such election district, with all such Books needed by any such election district for subsequent registration as aforesaid, of the form and design, hereinbefore provided ; and said Books so furnished and delivered shall become and be, and shall be known as, "Supplementary Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections" for the District for which they were furnished and shall be so endorsed, and all the provisions of this Chapter relative to Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Election shall apply to them.

And it shall be the duty of each of the said Boards of Registration * of the Registration Department Districts of the several Counties to examine all such Books immediately after the delivery to them, as in this Chapter provided ; and if they shall find that any Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections or Supplementary Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections of any election district are missing or mutilated or defaced, so that they are no longer available for the purposes for which they were intended then, and in all such cases, the Board of Registration of each Registration Department District shall prepare all such duplicate Books that may be needed for any of the causes above stated in any election district in its Registration Department District, on or before the first day of any registration of voters in any year in such election district. The said books shall be of the same form and design as hereinbefore described. The said books shall be known as the Duplicate Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections or Duplicate Supplementary Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections, as the case may be, for

Election District of Representative District

of County, and the Board of Registration of such Registration Department District shall endorse or cause to be endorsed 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 the word "Duplicate" shall be prefixed at the beginning of such endorsement.

It shall be the duty of the Board of Registration to make up the Duplicates aforesaid from the Registers, so that the said Duplicates will contain, at any primary election, the names of all the persons who, according to the Registers and Books of Registered Voters of said District, are entitled to vote at such primary election, and all the provisions of this Chapter relative to Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections shall apply to such Duplicate Books.

Provided, further, that the Board of Registration of any Registration Department Districts may, at any time that it shall deem necessary, transcribe or cause to be transcribed, any "Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections", or "Supplementary Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections".

Provided, further, that when any such "Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections", or "Supplementary Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections" has been transcribed by a Board of Registration of any Registration Department District, as hereinbefore provided for, the said "Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections", or "Supplementary Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections", 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 shall be paid by the Levy Court of the County wherein the election district is located.

The two Assistant Registrars shall be paid Seven Dollars and Fifty Cents each for their services in connection with the said Voting Books of Qualified Voters for Primary Elections, and the Registrar shall be paid Twelve Dollars and Fifty Cents for his services in connection with and for the delivery of said books, said compensation to be paid by the State.

Provided, however, that no such compensation shall be paid to the registration officers of any election district within the City of Wilmington, until after the last registration day in the month

of April in the year immediately succeeding the year of the last preceding general election, beginning with. the year 1943, and not until the said registration officers have completed the making up of the said books of their election district and have compared the same and duly certified to the accuracy of the same, as in this Section provided ; and provided, further, that no such compensation shall be paid to the registration officers of any election district outside of the City of Wilmington until after the last registration day in the month of August in the year of a general election, beginning with the year 1942, and not until the said registration officers have completed the making up of the said books of their election district and have compared the same and duly certified to the accuracy of the same, as in this Section provided.

Approved April 2, 1943.