NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES.

1. Party Nominations.

a. By Primary Election.

Primaries: definitions; liberal construction. Section 11-1. The words and phrases in this act, shall, unless the same be inconsistent with the context, be construed as follows:

1. The word "primary," the primary election provided for by this act.

2. The words "September primary," the primary election held in September to nominate candidates to be voted for at the ensuing general election.

3. The word "election," a general or city election, as distinguished from a primary election.

4. The words "November election," the general election held in November.

5. The word "precinct," a district established by law within which all qualified electors vote at one polling place.

6. This statute shall be liberally construed, so that the real will of the electors may not be defeated by any informality or failure to comply with all provisions of law in respect to either the giving of any notice or the conducting of the primary or certifying the results thereof. (1907 c. 666)

Nominations, how made.

Section 11—2.

dates for elective offices shall be nominated:

Hereafter, all candi

1. By a primary held in accordance with this act, or

2. By nomination papers signed and filed as provided by existing statutes.

*United States senators. 3. Party candidates for the office of United States senator shall be nominated in the manner provided herein for the nomination of candidates for state offices.

* Special primary, (1911 c. 613, s. 94n-1).

Offices and elections exempt from primary. 4. This act shall not apply to special elections to fill vacancies, to the office of state superintendent, to presidential electors, to county and district superintendents of schools, to town, village and school district officers, nor to judicial officers excepting police justices and justices of the peace in cities of the first, second and third classes.

Cities fourth class. 5. No primary election shall be held in cities of the fourth class for the nomination of municipal officers unless a petition asking that a primary election be held, signed by at least twenty-five per cent. of the electors of such city shall be filed in the

office of the city clerk at least sixty days prior to the time for holding such primary. The percentage of signers shall be determined by the vote cast for governor therein at the last preceding general election. Unless such petition is filed and primary held, municipal officers in cities of the fourth class shall be nominated by nomination papers as provided in section 30-32, statutes of 1898. (1907 c. 666)

Primaries; time and place of holding. Section 11—3. 1. The September primary shall be held at the regular polling places in each precinct on the first Tuesday of September, 1908, and biennially thereafter for the nomination of all candidates to be voted for at the next November election.

2. Any primary other than the September primary shall be held two weeks before the election for which such primary is held. (1907 c. 666)

Primary notices; lists of local clerks. Section 11—4. 1. At least sixty days before the time of holding such September primary, the secretary of state shall prepare and transmit to each county, town, city and village clerk, a notice in writing designating the offices for which candidates are to be nominated at such primary.

2. Upon receipt of such notice such county clerk, shall, not less than ten days thereafter, publish so much thereof as may be applicable to his county, once in each week for four consecutive weeks in at least two, and not to exceed four, newspapers of general circulation published in said county.1

3. Each town, village, and city clerk shall, within ten days after the receipt of such notice, cause notice of such primary to be posted in three public places in each precinct in his town, city or village; such notice shall state the time when, and place where, the primary will be held in each precinct therein, together with the offices for which candidates are to be nominated.2

4. In case of city elections, the city clerk shall cause one publication of such notice to be given, and shall also post such notice in three public places in each election precinct therein, such publication and posting to be not more than twenty and not less than ten days before such primary election.3

5. Each county clerk shall, on the first Tuesday of June 1908, and biennially thereafter, transmit to the secretary of state the name and postoffice address of each town, city and village clerk in his county. (1907 c. 666)

Nomination papers; how signed; form; number of signatures; when circulated. Section 11-5. 1. The name of no candidate shall be printed upon an official ballot used at any September primary unless at least thirty days prior to such primary a nomination paper shall have been filed in his behalf as provided in this act in substantially the following form:

I, the undersigned, a qualified elector of (the.. precinct of the town of.

precinct of the...

county of..

ber of the.

.) or (the.

.ward of the city of... .

..and state of Wisconsin, and a mem

.party, hereby nominate..

who resides (at No.

on.

.) or (in the town of.

.street, city .,) in the

of.

1 Form of county clerk's notice of primary, page 193.

2 Form of town, city or village clerk's notice of primary, page 193.

3 Form of city clerk's notice of city primary, page 185.

county of...

specify the office)..

as a candidate for the office of (here ....to be voted for at the primary to be held on the first Tuesday in September, 19...., as representing the principles of said party, and I further declare that I intend to support the candidate named herein.

IN CITIES.

NAME OF SIGNER.

Street. No.

Date of Signing.

2. All nomination papers shall have substantially the above form written or printed at the top thereof. No signatures shall be counted unless they be upon sheets each having such form written or printed at the top thereof.

3. Each signer of a nomination paper shall sign but one such paper for the same office, and shall declare that he intends to support the candidate named therein; he shall add his residence, with the street and number, if any, and the date of signing. No nomination paper shall be circulated prior to sixty days before the date on which such paper must be filed according to law and no signature shall be counted unless it has been affixed to such nomination paper and bears date within sixty days prior to the time for filing such nomination paper. 4. For all nominations, except state officers and representatives in congress, all signers of each separate nomination paper shall reside in the same ward, town or village. For state officers, and congressmen, all signers on each separate nomination paper, shall reside in the same county. The affidavit of a qualified elector shall be appended to each such nomination paper stating that he is personally acquainted with all persons who have signed the same, and that he knows them to be electors of that precinct or county, as the nomination papers shall require; that he knows that they signed the same with full knowledge of the contents thereof and that their respective residences are stated therein and that each signer signed the same on the date stated opposite his name, and that he, the affiant, intends to support the candidate named therein. Such affidavit shall not be made by the candidate, but each candidate shall file with his nomination paper or papers, or within five days thereafter, a declaration' that he will qualify as such officer if nominated and elected.

Number of signers. 5. Such nomination papers shall be signed,

State offices. (a) If for a state office by at least one per cent. of the voters of the party of such candidate in at least each of six counties in the state, and in the aggregate not less than one per cent. nor more than ten per cent. of the total vote of his party in the state.

Congress. (b) If for a representative in congress, by at least two per cent. of the voters of his party, in each of at least one-half of the counties of the congressional district, and in the aggregate not less than two per cent. nor more than ten per cent. of the total vote of his party in such district.

Senate; assembly; county offices. (c) If for an office representing less than a congressional district in area, or a county office, by at least

1 Form of declaration of candidate for nomination, page 191.

three per cent. of the party vote in at least one-sixth of the election precincts of such district and in the aggregate not less than three per cent. nor more than ten per cent. of the total vote of his party in such district.

Basis. (d) The basis of percentage in each case shall be the vote of the party for the presidential elector receiving the largest vote at the last preceding presidential election. But any political organization which at the last preceding general election was represented on the official ballot by either regular party candidates or by individual nominees only, may, upon complying with the provisions of this act, nave a separate primary election ticket as a political party, if any of its candidates or individual nominees received one per cent. of the total vote cast at the last preceding general election in the state, or subdivision thereof, in which the candidate seeks the nomination. (1907 c. 666; 1909 c. 372)

Nomination Papers.

Where filed. Section 11-6. All nomination papers shall be filed as follows:

Secretary of state. 1. For state officers, United States senators, representatives in congress, and those members of senate and assembly whose districts comprise more than one county, in the office of the secretary of state.

County clerk. 2. For officers to be voted for wholly within one county, except representatives in congress, in the office of the county clerk of such county.

City clerk. 3. For city officers, or other officers voted for exclusively within one city, in the office of the city clerk.

Number filed. 4. When nomination papers shall be received which contain ten per cent. of the total vote as limited in subdivisions a, b and c, of section 11-5 of this act, the clerk with whom such papers are required to be filed, shall not receive or file further nomination papers for the candidate named therein.

When destroyed. 5. All nomination papers in the custody of any official under the provisions of this section shall, four months after the day of the election at which the nominees sought to be named by such nomination papers have been voted for, be destroyed, by the official having such custody. Such papers as are material to any investigation or litigation then pending, shall not be destroyed, however, until the final determination of such investigation or litigation. (1907 c. 666; 1909 c. S72)

Nominations; certification; rotation of names. Section 11—7. 1. At least twenty-five days before any primary preceding a general election, the secretary of state shall transmit to each county clerk a certified list containing the name and postoffice address of each person for whom nomination papers have been filed in his office, and entitled to be voted for at such primary, together with a designation of the office for which he is a candidate, and the party or principle he represents; such lists shall designate the order in which the names of the candidates shall be printed upon the primary ballot in each assembly district. (1907 c. 666; 1909 c. 464)

Districts; arrangement. 2. a.

For the purpose of determining the order in which the names of candidates for each state office shall be placed upon the primary ballot, the secretary of state shall number the assembly districts in the state consecutively from one to one hundred in the order of their population according to the last preceding published census, beginning with the district having the largest population, which shall be numbered one.

b. In determining the order in which the names of candidates for representatives in congress, and state senators in districts comprising more than one county, shall be placed upon the primary ballot, the secretary of state shall number the assembly districts and parts of districts in each congressional or senatorial district from one upward, according to population, as aforesaid.

C. In determining the order in which the names of candidates for members of assembly, in districts comprising more than one county, shall be placed upon the primary ballot, the secretary of state shall number the counties in each assembly district from one upward, according to population as aforesaid.

Names, arrangement. 3. a. The secretary of state shall arrange the surnames of all candidates for each office alphabetically for the first assembly district; thereafter for each succeeding district, the name appearing first for each office in the last preceding district shall be placed last.

b. He shall arrange the surnames of all candidates for member of assembly alphabetically for the first county in each assembly district; thereafter for each succeeding county, the name appearing first in the last preceding county shall be placed last. (1911 c. 47)

Notice. 4. Such clerk shall forthwith upon receipt thereof publish under the proper party designation, the title of each office, the names and addresses of all persons for whom nomination papers have been filed, giving the name and address of each, the date of the primary, the hours during which the polls will be opened, and that the primary will be held at the regular polling places in each precinct.1

Publication. 5. It shall be the duty of the county clerk to publish such notice once each week for two consecutive weeks prior to said primary.

Posting. 6. Such clerk shall also forthwith mail copies of such notice to each town, village, and city clerk of his county, who shall immediately post copies of the same in at least three public places in each precinct in his town, village, or city, designating therein the location of the polling booth in each election precinct.2 (1909 c. 464)

Notices, how published. Section 11-8. 1. Every publication required in this act shall be made in at least two, and not to exceed four newspapers of general circulation in such county or city, one of such newspapers shall represent the political party that cast the largest vote in such county or city at the preceding general election, and one of such newspapers shall represent the political party that cast the next largest vote in such county or city at the preceding general election, provided that every publication required in this act shall not be made in more than two newspapers as herein provided unless authorized by resolution adopted by the county board of supervisors of such county or city council of such city.

1 Notice of county clerk's list of candidates, page 192.

2 Form of notice, page 192.