Governor's proclama to contain. 2. An offer of rewards in the following form: "And tion, what I do hereby offer a reward of one hundred dollars for the arrest and conviction of any and every person violating any of the provisions of Title IV, Part I, of the Penal Code; such rewards to be paid until the total amount hereafter expended for the purpose reaches the sum of ten thousand dollars." NOTE.-Const., Art. XI, Sec. 18. The Penal Code, Secs. 41 to 61, inclusive, prescribes the punishment for violations of the election laws; for buying or selling votes, and other crimes against the elective franchise. The object of requiring the Governor to insert in the election proclamation an offer of rewards is the enforcement of the penalties prescribed in the Code. To illustrate the use, we will take Sec. 60 of the Penal Code. It is as follows: SEC. 60. Every person who makes, offers, or accepts any bet or wager upon the result of any election, or upon the success or failure of any person or candidate, or upon the number of votes to be cast either in the aggregate or for any particular candidate, or upon the vote to be cast by any person, is guilty of a misde meanor. We of California know full well the evils that flow from betting on elections. In addition to the public injury that results therefrom, the injury to private persons, who often in the heat of a political campaign are pressed into staking their all on the result, has been almost incalculable. Now, the mere fact that there is a statute making betting on elections a misdemeanor will not stop the practice; but give to every policeman, officer, or other person a direct interest of one hundred dollars in the enforcement of the law in each case, and betting and offers to bet will not be frequent. As it is of this offense, so it will be of othersan offer to sell a vote, or to buy one, gives every person who may have knowledge of such an offer an interest of one hundred dollars in the enforcement of the law against such offer. A subsequent section of this Title requires the penal laws referred to in this section to be published and posted with the election proclamation, so that their provisions may be brought to the knowledge of all. As to other matters connected with election proclamation, consult the following cases: People vs. Church, 6 Cal., p. 26; People vs. Johnston, 6 Cal., p. 673; McKune vs. Weller, 11 Cal., p. 49; People vs. Porter, 6 Cal., p. 26; Westbrook vs. Roseborough, 14 Cal., p. 180; Hobart vs. Supervisors of Butte County, must proclama 1055. The Board of Supervisors, upon receipt of Supervisors such proclamation, must cause a copy of the same, publish together with a copy of Title IV, Part I, of the Penal tion, etc. Code, to be published in some newspaper printed in the county (if any), and to be posted at each place of election, at least ten days before the election. NOTE. In the case of The People vs. Laine, 33 Cal., p. 55, it was held to be an omission fatal to the validity of an election for the Supervisors not to divide a town or city into election districts under the Registry Act. Unless this is done the proclamation could not be posted as the text requires. proclama Supervisors 1056. Whenever a special election is ordered by Election the Board of Supervisors, they must issue an election tions by proclamation, containing the statement provided for in Subdivision 1 of Section 1054, and must publish and post it in the same manner as proclamations issued by the Governor. NOTE.-See notes to the preceding Secs. 1043, et seq. That the election must be held at the time and place appointed is essentially required by Dickey vs. Hurlburt, 5 Cal., p. 343; and by the proper officers chosen or appointed.-Satterlee vs. San Francisco, 23 Cal., p. 314; see note to Sec. 1054, ante. ARTICLE III. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. SECTION 1066. Plurality to elect. 1067. Proceedings on a tie vote other than for Governor or 1068. Same, on tie vote for Governor or Lieutenant Governor. 1069. Electors privileged from arrest, when. 1070. Electors exempt from militia duty, when. Plurality to elect. Proceedings on a tie vote other than for Gov SECTION 1071. No fees for certificate of registration. 1072. Compensation of officers of election. 1073. Supervisors to have blanks prepared. 1066. The person receiving at any election the highest number of votes for any office to be filled at such election is elected thereto. NOT.-Const., Art. II, Sec. 6, and Art. XI, Sec. 20. 1067. If at any election, except that for Governor or Lieutenant Governor, two or more persons receive an equal and the highest number of votes, there is no Governor. choice, and a special election to fill such office must be ordered by the proper Board or officer. ernor or Lieutenant Same, on tie vote for Governor or Lieutenant Electors privileged NOTE.-Stats. 1850, p. 101. 1068. In case any two or more persons have an equal and highest number of votes for either Governor or Lieutenant Governor, the Legislature must, by joint vote of both Houses, choose one of the persons to fill such office. NOTE.-State Const., Secs. 4 and 16, Art. V. 1069. Electors are privileged from arrest, except from arrest, for an indictable offense, during their attendance on the election, and in going to and returning from the when. same. NOTE.-Sec. 2 of Art. II, State Constitution, is as follows: SEC. 2. Electors shall, in all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest on the days of election, during their attendance at such election, going to and returning therefrom. "The principal difficulty that is likely to arise under this constitutional provision is, as to what amounts to a breach of the peace; does it include every indictable offense? or is it confined to those which are attended with actual violence or disturbance of public order? In Rex vs. Wilkes (2 Wills., p. 151), Lord Camden delivered the unanimous judgment of the Court of Common Pleas, that a libel was not a breach of the peace, and that a member of Parliament was not liable to arrest by reason of his having been convicted of that offense. Very soon afterwards, however, it was resolved by both Houses of Parliament that the writing 1070. and publishing of seditious libels was not entitled to exempt No elector is obliged to perform militia duty Electors on the day of election, except in time of war or public from danger. NOTE.-Const., Art. II, Sec. 3. militia 1071. No fees must be charged for registration or No fees for certificates thereof. 1072. The compensation of members of Boards of Election and Clerks must be fixed and audited by the Board of Supervisors and paid out of the County Treasury. certificate of registration. Compenofficers of sation of election. to have prepared. 1073. The necessary printed blanks for poll lists, Supervisors tally lists, lists of voters, oath, and returns, together blanks with envelops in which to inclose returns, must be fur nished by the Board of Supervisors to the officers of each election precinct at the expense of the county. Qualifications of a voter. CHAPTER II. QUALIFICATIONS AND DISABILITIES OF ELECTORS. SECTION 1083. Qualifications of a voter. 1084. Certain citizens not entitled to vote. 1083. Every male citizen of the United States, who shall have been a resident of the State six months next preceding the election, and of the precinct in which he claims his vote thirty days, and whose name is enrolled on the Great Register of such county, is a qualified elector thereof. NOTE.-The word "white" has been stricken from the original section, so as to meet the requirements of the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Of the binding force in law of that amendment there can be no question. Mr. Brightly, the learned compiler of "Leading Cases on Elections," who evidently is no believer in the policy of the amendment in question, in a note on page forty-three upon this topic, among other things, says: "Let it not be supposed from these remarks that the author is one of those impracticable politicians who deny the validity of the Fifteenth Amendment. It is an accomplished fact, and, therefore, having been passed by the forms of law, however much influenced by fraud or force, is now a part of the fundamental law, and binds the whole community. The question of duress has no place when considering the effect of a change in a people's form of government. Many acts which cannot be defended on moral grounds, when fully carried into execution are binding upon a nation. The American Revolution was wholly indefensible on theological grounds, and yet, when successful, it effected an entire change in the form of our government, and the new order of things bound the people to obedience not only in fact, but in conscience also. So it is with the recent great changes in our Constitution; they are accomplished facts, and as much a part of the organic law as the original Articles." |