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To regulate the conduct and to maintain the freedom and purity of elections; to prescribe the mode of making, and designate the officers who shall make the returns thereof; to prevent fraud, violence, intimidation, riot, tumult, bribery or corruption at elections or at any registration or revision of registration; to limit the powers and duties of the sheriffs of the parishes of Orleans and Jefferson; to prescribe the powers and duties of the Board and officers of the Metropolitan Police in reference to elections; to prescribe the mode of entering on the rolls of the Senate and House of Representatives the names of members; to empower the Governor to preserve peace and order, to enforce the laws; to limit the powers and duties of the Mayors of the cities of New Orleans and Jefferson with regard to elections; to prohibit District or Parish Judges from issuing certain writs to Commissioners of Election; to make an appropriation for the expenses of the next revision of the registration and of the next election; and to enforce article one hundred and three of the constitution.
Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana, in General Assembly convened,Time of holding elections That all elections for State, parish and judicial officers, members of the General Assembly, and for members of Congress shall be held on the first Monday in November, and said elections shall be styled the general elections.
They shall be held in the manner and form, and subject to the regulations hereinafter prescribed, and no other.
Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, etc.,Elections for representatives in the General Assembly. That elections for Representatives in the General Assembly shall be held on the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and every two (2) years thereafter; and all elections to supply the place of Senaators in the General Assembly,Elections for State senators whose terms of service shall have expired, shall be held at the same time as herein provided for the election of Representatives.
Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, etc.,When held. That all elections shall be held in each parish at the several election polls or voting places to be established as is hereinafter prescribed.
Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, etc.,When completed—polls open. That all elections shall be completed in one day, and the polls shall be kept open at each poll or voting place, from the hour of six in the morning until six o’clock in the afternoon.
Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, etc.,Election precincts. That each parish in this State, except the parishes of Orleans and Jefferson, is hereby fixed as an election precinct, and the supervisor of registration in each of said parishes shall direct what number of polls or voting places shall be established in each precinct, fix the places of holding the election, and appoint commissioners of election for each poll or voting place.Voting places. In the city of New Orleans, each ward shall constitute a precinct, and in the remaining part of the parish of Orleans, the supervisor of registration for the said parish shall fix both the precincts and voting places in each precinct, and in the parish of Jefferson, the supervisor of registration shall fix both the precincts and the voting places in each precinct; in the parishes of Orleans and Jefferson the supervisor of registration of each parish shall appoint commissioners of election therefor, as in the other parishes. Any duly registered voter may vote at any poll or voting place within his precinct.
Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, etc.,Commissioners of election. That the elections at each poll or voting place shall be presided over by three commissioners of election, residents of the parish, who shall be able to read and write, to be appointed by the supervisor of registration for the parish, 19
