Election Laws of Wisconsin. ELECTORS AND RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE. Constitutional and Statutory Provisions. Electors, who are qualified. Section 12. Every male person of the age of twenty-one years or upwards, belonging to either of the following classes, who shall have resided in the state for one year next preceding any election, and in the election district where he offers to vote ten days, shall be deemed a qualified elector at such election: 1. Citizens of the United States. 2. Persons of foreign birth who, prior to the first day of December, A. D. 1908, shall have declared their intentions to become citizens conformable to the laws of the United States on the subject of naturalization, provided that the rights hereby granted to such persons shall cease on the first day of December, A. D. 1912. 3. Persons of Indian blood who have once been declared by law of congress to be citizens of the United States, any subsequent law of congress to the contrary notwithstanding. 4. Civilized persons of Indian descent not members of any tribe. 5. Any civilized person, being a descendant of the Chippewas of Lake Superior or any other Indian tribe, residing within this state, and not upon any Indian reservation, who shall make and subscribe to an oath before the clerk of the circuit court or his deputy of the county where such person resides that he is not a member of any Indian tribe, and has no claim upon the United States for aid and assistance from any appropriation made by congress for the benefit of Indians, and that he hereby relinquishes all tribal relations, and all right to claim or receive such aid, shall be entitled, on such oath being filed and recorded, to vote at all elections held in this state, if he is otherwise qualified. The oath so taken, on being corroborated as to the residence and tribal relations of such person by the affidavit of a qualified elector, shall be filed in the office of the clerk before whom it was taken and recorded by him in a book to be provided for that purpose, upon such person paying to said clerk the sum of one dollar. Women. 6. Every woman who is a citizen of this state, of the age of twenty-one years or upwards, who has resided within the state one year and in the election district where she offers to vote ten days preceding any election pertaining to school district matters and the election of school district officers, and who is not a pauper or excluded by section 2 of article 3 of the constitution, may vote at any election pertaining to such matters and the election of such officers in any town, city or village in which she has so resided. Where votes to be cast. Section 13. No elector shall vote except in the town, ward, village or election district in which he actually resides; provided, that all persons residing upon Indian land within any county of the state, and qualified to exercise the right of suffrage, shall be entitled to vote at the polls which may be held nearest their residence for state, United States or county officers; but no person shall vote for county officers out of the county in which he resides. Bet or wager. No person who shall have made or become interested, directly or indirectly, in any bet or wager depending upon the result of any election at which he shall offer to vote shall be permitted to vote at such election; and any person who shall have been convicted of bribery shall be excluded from the right of suffrage unless restored to civil rights. ELIGIBILITY OF CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE. Constitutional Provision. Who not qualified electors. a. Article 3, Section 2. No person under guardianship, non compos mentis, or insane, shall be qualified to vote at any election; nor shall any person convicted of treason or felony be qualified to vote at any election unless restored to civil rights. Votes to be by ballot. Article 3, Section 3. All votes shall be given by ballot, except for such township officers as may by law be directed, or allowed to be otherwise chosen. Residence not lost when. Article 3, Section 4. No person shall be deemed to have lost his residence in this state, by reason of his absence on business of the United States, or of this state. Who not residents. Article 3, Section 5. No soldier, seaman, or marine, in the army or navy of the United States, shall be deemed a resident of this state in consequence of being stationed within the same. Who may be excluded from right of suffrage. Article 3, Section 6. Laws may be passed excluding from the right of suffrage all persons who have been or may be convicted of bribery or larceny, or of 1 In city of Neenah voters of 5th ward may vote in 3rd ward. |