of such county, voting upon that proposition, at any general election shall so determine; and whenever any county shall adopt township organization, so much of this constitution as provides for the management of county affairs, and the assessment and collection of the revenue by county officers, in conflict with such general law for township organization may be dispensed with, and the business of said county and the local concerns of the several townships therein, may be transacted in such manner as may be prescribed by law: Provided, that the justices of the county court in such case shall not exceed three in number. (j)

SEC. 9. Township organization discontinued, how.-In any county which shall have adopted "township organization," the question of continuing the same may be submitted to a vote of electors of such county at a general election, in the manner that shall be provided by law; and if a majority of all the votes cast upon that question shall be against township organization, it shall cease in said county; and all laws in force in relation to counties not having township organization shall immediately take effect and be in force in such county.

MODE OF AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE XV.

SECTION 1. Constitution, how amended.-This constitution may be amended and revised only in pursuance of the provisions of this article. (k)

SEC. 2. General assembly may propose amendments-submitted to vote. The general assembly may, at any time, propose such amendments to this constitution as a majority of the members elected to each house shall deem expedient; and the vote thereon shall be taken by yeas and nays, and entered in full on the journals. The proposed amendments shall be published with the laws of that session, and also shall be published weekly in some newspaper, if such there be, within each county in the state, for four consecutive weeks next preceding the general election then next ensuing. The proposed amendments shall be submitted to a vote of the people, each amendment separately, at the next general election thereafter, in such manner as the general assembly may provide. If a majority of the qualified voters of the state, voting for and against any one of said amendments, shall vote for such amendment, the same shall be deemed and taken to have been ratified by the people, and shall be valid and binding, to all intents and purposes, as a part of this constitution. (1)

(j) 138 Mo. 187; 123 Mo. 72; 55 Mo. 295; 49 Mo. 468.

(k) As to the mode of amending constitution, see "Elections on Constitutional Amendments," Chap. 102, Art. 3, in this pamphlet.

(1) Power to amend constitution discussed. 40 Mo. 192. Duty of supreme court as to amendments proposed by legislature. 4 Mo. 303; 132 Mo. 410.

REVISED STATUTES, 1899,

With All Amendatory Laws.

GENERAL ELECTIONS REGULATED.

CHAPTER 102.

ARTICLE I.

SEC. 6981. Election of state officers.-On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in the year 1880, and every four years thereafter, there shall be an election held in each township in this state and in each ward of the city of St. Louis for the election of governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer and attorney-general, who shall hold their offices for the term of four years after the second Monday in January next after their election, and until their successors are elected and qualified. (R. S. 1889, § 4657.)

SEC. 6982. Election of congressmen, etc.—On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, in the year 1880, and every two years thereafter, there shall be an election held in each township in this state, and in each ward of the city of St. Louis, for the election of a member of congress from each congressional district, of senators and representatives in those districts and judges of the county courts in those counties where the term of those elected has expired, and for sheriffs and coroners, and such other officers as may be required by law to be elected at such elections. (R. S. 1889, § 4658-a.)

SEC. 6983. How to proceed in certain cases.-If the court fail to designate the place of holding the election or to appoint judges, or the judges appointed fail to act, it shall be the duty of the sheriff to fix the place, and the voters, when assembled, may appoint the judges. (R. S. 1889, § 4659.)

SEC. 6984. County court may establish and alter election precincts.-The county courts of the several counties in this state shall have power to divide any township in their respective counties into two or more election districts, or to establish two or more election precincts in any township, and to alter such election districts and precincts, from time to time, as the convenience of the inhabitants may require. (R. S. 1889, § 4660.)

(a) 43 Mo. 261.

SEC. 6985. Order defining election districts.-Every order made under the provisions of the preceding section shall describe the several districts erected, and the boundary of each, or the precincts established, and the name of each; and the clerk shall, within twenty days after the making of the order, make out one copy thereof for each district erected or altered or precinct established thereby, and deliver the same to the sheriff of the county, who shall cause one such copy to be put up at a public place in each district, or at each precinct, within six days after the same shall be delivered to him. (R. S. 1889, § 4661.)

SEC. 6986. How elections shall be conducted. The place of holding the elections shall be designated, and the judges and clerks of election appointed in such districts or for such election precincts, and the elections therein shall be conducted, in all respects, in the same manner as is hereinafter provided by law for the townships. (R. S. 1889, § 4662.)

SEC. 6987. Poll-books, how furnished-returns, how made.Poll-books for each district or election precinct shall be made and furnished to the judges of election therein, in the same manner as hereafter provided in respect to poll-books for each township, and returns shall be made to the office of the clerk of the county court, as in the case of a township forming one election district. (R. S. 1889, § 4663.)

SEC. 6988. Election to fill vacancy.-When the governor issues a writ of election to fill any vacancy, he shall mention in said writ how many days, to be not less than ten, the sheriff shall give notice thereof. (R. S. 1889, § 4664.)

SEC. 6989. Oath of judges of election.-The judges, before entering upon their duties, shall take the following oath:

I do solemnly swear that I will impartially discharge the duties of the present election, according to law, to the best of my ability, and that I will not disclose how any voter shall have voted, unless I am required to do so as a witness in the proper judicial proceeding, so help me God.

In cities where registration exists, they shall also take the additional oath that they will not allow any person to vote whose name is not duly registered according to law, which oath shall be administered by one of their own body, who in turn may be sworn by one of the other judges. (R. S. 1889, § 4665-b.)

SEC. 6990. Clerks of election.-The judges shall appoint four clerks, who, before entering on the duties of their appointment, shall take an oath or affirmation, to be administered by one of the persons appointed or elected judges of election, that they will faithfully record the names of all the voters; said clerks shall also take the oath above prescribed for the judges, to be administered at the same time and in the manner heretofore directed. (R. S. 1889, § 4666.)

SEC. 6991. Polls, when opened and closed.-The judges of each election hereafter to be held, general or municipal, shall open the polls at seven o'clock in the morning and continue them open until six o'clock in the evening, unless the sun shall set after six, when the polls shall be kept open until sunset, except in cities in the state of twenty-five thousand inhabitants or upward, when the polls shall be open at six o'clock in the morning and be kept open until seven o'clock in the evening. (R. S. 1889, § 4667—c.)

(b) 67 Mo. 331; 54 Mo. 502; 46 Mo. 450; 44 Mo. 346; 43 Mo. 290; 41 Mo. 63. (c) 130 Mo. 621.

SEC. 6992. Voting to be by ballot.-All elections shall be by ballot, and continue for one day only. (R. S. 1889, § 4668.)

SEC. 6993. Ballot-boxes to be provided-duty of constables.The sheriffs of their respective counties shall provide, at the expense of their counties, two ballot-boxes for each precinct in each municipal township in said counties, and deposit the same with the constable of the proper township, whose duty it shall be to preserve the same, and have such boxes present at the proper time and place, at all elections in his township, for the use of the judges of the elections. Said constables shall deliver said boxes to their successors in office within ten days after their successors shall have been qualified, and in default thereof shall forfeit ten dollars, to be recovered by civil action before any justice of the peace at the suit of the constable of the township in which such delinquent resides, and shall be paid into the treasury of the county for the use of its common schools. (R. S. 1889, § 4669.)

SEC. 6994. Qualifications of voters.-Every male citizen of the United States and every male person of foreign birth who may have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States according to law, not less than one year nor more than five years before he offers to vote, who is over the age of twenty-one years, possessing the following qualifications, shall be entitled to vote at all elections by the people: First, he shall have resided in the state one year immediately preceding the election at which he offers to vote; second, he shall have resided in the county, city or town where he shall offer to vote at least sixty days immediately preceding the election; and each voter shall vote only in the township in which he resides, or if in a town or city, then in the election district therein in which he resides: Provided, however, that no officer, soldier or marine in the regular army or navy of the United States, shall be entitled to vote at any election in this state; and provided further, that no person while kept at any poor-house or other asylum at public expense, except the soldiers' home at St. James and the confederate home at Higginsville, nor while confined in any public prison, shall be entitled to vote at any election under the laws of this state; nor shall any person convicted of felony or other infamous crime, or of a misdemeanor connected with the exercise of the right of suffrage, be permitted to vote at any election unless he shall have been granted a full pardon; and after a second conviction of felony or other infamous crime, or of a misdemeanor connected with the exercise of the right of suffrage, he shall be forever excluded from voting. (R. S. 1889, § 4670, amended, Laws 1897, p. 109-d.)

SEC. 6995. Duty of judges.-The judge to whom any ticket shall be delivered shall, upon receipt thereof, pronounce in an audible voice the name of the voter; and if the judges shall be satisfied that the person offering to vote is a legal voter, his ticket shall be numbered and placed in the ballot-box without inspecting the names written or printed theron, or permitting any other person or persons to do so; and the clerks of election shall enter the names of voters and the numbers of the ballots, in the order in which they were received, in the poll-books, in conformity with the form printed in section 7003, and, in addition, whenever a registration is required by law, place on such ballot the number corresponding with the number opposite the name of the person voting, found on the registration list; and no ballot not so numbered shall be counted; and the ballots, after being counted, shall be sealed up in a package and de

(d) 140 Mo. 390; 130 Mo. 621, 530; 128 Mo. 661; 53 Mo. 58; 41 Mo. 63; 33 A. 635.

livered to the clerk of the county court or corresponding officer in any city not within a county, who shall deposit them in his office, where they shall be safely preserved for twelve months; and the said officers shall not allow the same to be inspected, unless in case of contested elections, or the same become necessary to be used in evidence, and then only on the order of the proper court, or judge thereof in vacation, under such restrictions for their safe keeping and return as the court or judge making the same may deem necessary; and at the end of twelve months, said officer shall publicly destroy the same by burning, without inspection; and no judge or clerk of an election shall disclose the names of the candidates voted for by any voter, and any judge or clerk violating the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of one hundred dollars. (R. S. 1889, § 4672-e.)

SEC. 6996. Four judges to be appointed-ballots counted, how.— In all counties in this state, four judges of election shall be appointed by the county court for each election precinct in each of said counties; and there shall also be provided two ballot-boxes for said judges of election, one of which shall be numbered No. 1, and the other numbered No. 2; and it shall be the duty of said judges to select from their number two judges who shall be designated and known as receiving judges, and two who shall be designated and known as counting judges. After the pollbooks are signed in the manner hereinafter provided in the form of the poll-books, the ballot-box No. I shall be opened and examined by all the judges and clerks, and everything removed therefrom; and one of the receiving judges, first selected, shall receive the ballot of each elector, and, after pronouncing the name of such elector in an audible voice, shall pass the ballot to the other receiving judge, who shall number the same and deposit it in said ballot-box No. 1, which shall be kept securely closed while the balloting continues for one hour from the time of opening the polls. At the expiration of said hour, the receiving judges shall deliver said ballot box No. I to the counting judges, who shall immediately deliver over to said receiving judges ballot-box No. 2, which ballot-box No. 2 shall be opened and examined in the presence of all the judges and clerks, and after everything is removed therefrom, shall be securely closed, and, during the next hour, said receiving judges shall receive and deposit ballots therein, in the same manner as during the first hour ballots were received and deposited in ballot-box No. 1. After the delivery of ballot-box No. I to the counting judges, the same shall be immediately opened by them, and the tickets shall be taken out, one at a time, by one of the counting judges, who shall read distinctly, while the ticket remains. in his hand, the name or names written or printed thereon, also the office that is intended to be filled by such person voted for, and deliver the same to the other counting judge, who shall string the same on a thread or string, as provided by law. The same method shall be observed with each ticket, and the counting shall continue thus until all the ballots in the box are counted, and then the counting judges shall securely close ballot-box No. 1, and deliver the same to the receiving judges, and receive from the receiving judges ballot-box No. 2; and so on in the same manner until the polls are closed and all the ballots are counted. No person or persons shall be admitted into the room or offfice where such ballots are being counted, except the judges and clerks of election: Provided, that any political party may select a representative man who

(e) 62 Mo. 422; 53 Mo. 350.