Board of election commissioners

“ There is no ground on which the law could be declared void.
It is objected that there was no registration of voters, as required in general terms by § 1709 of the Compiled Laws. But that section required the county commissioners to appoint a board of registration sixty days before any election, and as the statute concerning the change of county seats in case of a special election required it to be called 'at any time within two months of the date of presenting said petition,' it naturally was held that the case was taken out of § 1709 by the latter act. ”

“ But the members of this board were neither State nor parish officers, and the laws for electing others in their stead had ceased to have operation. And although, in ordinary cases, where an election has been omitted, officers may continue to act as officers de facto beyond their regular term (though not compellable to do so) , and their acts will bind the corporation which they represent ”

“ Here there will be a distinct danger in electing commissioners at large at a single election at which are chosen those who obtain the highest votes, even though less than a majority. If the choice is to be by a plurality at a single election the municipality should be divided into wards with a single commissioner elected from each, but no candidate should be required to reside in the ward where he stands for election. The Hare plan is entirely available and consistent with the choice of commissioners from wieldy districts. ”

“ While one cannot dispute the basis for [Congress' concern that an election commission exist not in whole of presidential appointees] as a practical matter, it would seem that those who sought to challenge incumbent Congressmen might have equally good reason to fear a Commission which was unduly responsive to members of Congress whom they were seeking to unseat. ”

“ An appreciation of the deep-rooted tendency of our voters to place their cities in charge of men of ordinary ability has led some practical students of the question to assert that the commission plan is foreordained to failure because it provides for the popular election of the city's administrative department heads. "The rock upon which American cities have split is the popular election of administrative officials," a critic observes. The objection touches on the vital problem of the commission government—what the exact function of the elected commissioner should be. ”

“ The supposed advantage of electing commissioners at large from an unwieldy district is that this method insures the candidacy and election of men prominent in the entire district and hence more fit to hold office. ”

“ The article also provides that 'no commissioners of election shall count a ballot as cast for any person whose name is not printed on the ballot or who does not become a candidate in the foregoing manner'. ”

“ The effectiveness of the commission form of government for cities to oust extra-legal government requires the election of each commissioner from a wieldy district, i.e., one not so large but that the candidate who is willing to run may be known with a fair degree of ease by the electorate and be able with the least expense to make a personal canvass. ”

“ This is the neat and feasible scheme for applying the essential principle of the commission form of government when a large representative assembly is a necessity. The method of selecting the single executive whose principal duty it is to place the executive power of the state from time to time in the control of a proper council of state, selected from among the leaders of a majority of the legislature, is not very important. Very likely the only practicable way would be by election at large at considerable intervals of time. ”

“ This becomes in substance an election of commissioners from districts and yet the range of choice by the voter resulting from the coming forward of candidates will be very much restricted because of the expense of making a canvass in the unwieldy district and the necessity for an organized support. Candidates who are successful in being elected from the unwieldy district are likely to be beholden to an organization, whether it be temporary or permanent, which has aided them in the election. ”

“ On or before February one, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, the Commission on Elections, shall, directly or through its authorized provincial representatives, appoint a board of election inspectors and a poll clerk. Two inspectors, one of whom shall be the chairman of the board, and their substitutes, shall be appointed upon the recommendation of the Liberal Nationalist Party; one inspector and his substitute shall be recommended by the Nationalist Party (conservative) and/or political parties coalesced with it in the last national elections ”

“ The numerical case cited by the Commissioners can only occur when so-called supporters of the party in question are so indifferent to its fate as to refrain from recording any preferences for any members of the party other than their own favoured candidate. Such voters can hardly be called "members of a party" for the purpose of contrasting its strength with that of another party. ”

“ The commissioners are generally empowered to conduct the District's business. They have the power to subpoena witnesses and to administer oaths in investigating District affairs, Tenn.Code Ann. § 6-2616 (5) (1955) , and they serve for only nominal compensation. Tenn.Code Ann. § 6-2615 (Supp.1970) . Plainly, commissioners who are beholden to an elected public official for their appointment, and are subject to removal procedures applicable to all public officials, qualify as 'individuals who are responsible to public officials or to the general electorate' within the Board's test. ”

“ The Vice President shall chair the Commission, which shall be composed of not more than 15 additional members. The President shall appoint the additional members, who shall include individuals with knowledge and experience in elections, election management, election fraud detection, and voter integrity efforts, and any other individuals with knowledge or experience that the President determines to be of value to the Commission. The Vice President may select a Vice Chair of the Commission from among the members appointed by the President. ”

“ A citizen casting a ballot for a commissioner today votes for an individual with less authority than before the resolution, and so, it is said, the value of the vote has been diminished.
Were we to accept the appellants' proffered reading of § 5, we would work an unconstrained expansion of its coverage. Innumerable state and local enactments having nothing to do with voting affect the power of elected officials. When a state or local body adopts a new governmental program or modifies an existing one it will often be the case that it changes the powers of elected officials. ”

“ Political parties no longer have any opportunity of putting men of little ability into office, but instead, competent men with a genuine interest in the city affairs and with no party affiliations whatever, so far as municipal affairs are concerned, will be attracted to the position of commissioner.
The opposition go further and charge that, even though efficient men may be elected to office, the commission plan makes impossible the fixing of responsibility. ”

“ The joint committee appointed to canvass and estimate the votes for governor, lieutenant-governor, and senators at the last election, having been constrained, by a sense of their duty in the discharge of the trust reposed in them, to reject the ballots returned from the counties of Clinton, Otsego, and Tioga; and perceiving that attempts are made to misrepresent as well the principles of their determination as the facts on which they are founded, feel it incumbent on them to state the grounds of their decision. ”

“ For this purpose, the first five persons who receive the highest votes which are more than one half of the total number of the existing senators shall be elected as Election Commissioners, but if the number of the said elected persons is less than five, the name-list of those not elected in that first occasion shall be submitted to the senators for voting on another occasion and consecutively. In such case, the persons receiving the highest number of votes in respective order up to five shall be deemed to be elected as Election Commissioner. ”

“ The Election Commission shall consist of the Chief Election Commissioner and such number of other Election Commissioners, if any, as the President may from time to time fix and the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners shall, subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf by Parliament, be made by the President. ”

“ Provided that the President may, if he considers it expedient to do so or if the exigencies of a situation so requires it, at any time prior to the constitution of the Election Commission, appoint to the office of Commissioner of Elections, a person holding office as an Additional Commissioner of Elections or a Deputy Commissioner of Elections to discharge the functions presently conferred on the Commission by the Constitution. ”

“ As stated in paragraph 51, the Higher Commission of Elections verifies the eligibility of candidates seeking election to the Legislative Assembly. The Higher Commission of Elections is the sole body competent to receive allegations of electoral fraud, voter intimidation or illegal interference with the process of an election. ”

“ Be it further enacted, etc., That any commissioner of election shall have power to administer oaths and affirmations to persons offering to vote at any election conducted by them, and to examine such persons under oath touching their right to vote at such election; Commissioner to receive votes. and in all cases the supervisor of registration for the parish shall appoint one of the commissioners of election to keep a record of the voters during the election, and another to receive the votes, and whenever a vote is received the Record of persons voting—how kept. ”

“ The term “chief State election official” means, with respect to a State, the individual designated by the State under section 10 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20509) to be responsible for coordination of the State’s responsibilities under such Act. (4) The term “Commission” means the Election Assistance Commission. (5) The term “democratic institutions” means the diverse range of institutions that are essential to ensuring an independent judiciary, free and fair elections, and rule of law. ”

“ Section 241 defines the term, 'political committee,' as including any organization which accepts contributions for the purpose of influencing or attempting to influence the election of presidential and vice presidential electors in two or more states. Every political committee is required to have a chairman and a treasurer before any contribution may be accepted. ”

“ Article 56 The term of office of a people's commissioner ends upon death, resignation, permanent incapacity, unjustified or unauthorized absence from more than a quarter of the sittings of a session, or when the people's commissioner falls into one of the cases of exclusion provided for in the electoral law. ”

“ I believe it would be possible to constitute a commission, nonpartisan in its membership and composed of patriotic, wise, and impartial men, to whom a consideration of the question of the evils connected with our election system and methods might be committed with a good prospect of securing unanimity in some plan for removing or mitigating those evils. ”

“ The Democratic and Republican parties have their turn every four years at national elections but at all other seasons new ideas come into the local commissioners, platforms that cannot be classed as Democratic or Republican ideas and the people do not array themselves under those banners but rather the banners of Doctor Mayo Sims on the one hand and Black Hawk Boone on the other. ”

“ And it shall be the duty of the commissioners so appointed, to give at least five days’ previous notice of the place in each ward where such elections are to be held. The said commissioners shall, before they receive any ballot, severally take an oath or affirmation, to be administered by some justice of the peace for the county of Washington, “truly and faithfully to receive and return the votes of such persons as are by law entitled to vote for members of the board of aldermen and board of common council, in their respective wards, according to the best of their judgment and understanding ”

“ The Election Commissioners who vacate office upon the expiration of the term shall remain in office to continue to perform their duties until the newly appointed Election Commissioners take office. The provisions of section 209 (1) , (2) , (3) , (5) , (6) and (7) and the provisions on the disqualifications and prohibitions under section 230 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the vacation of office of Election Commissioners. ”

“ In case of dispute, the Political Bureau shall decide in accordance with the electoral law. Article 55 When a people's commissioner is guilty of a serious breach of the discipline of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, he shall lose his mandate in the Legislative Council and shall be replaced by a substitute. ”

“ A newly appointed commission is usually stronger than one more firmly established—when its fight has been won. It is well then to remember that in its creation, its powers should be closely defined and safe guarded, so that it has a continuing strength not wholly dependent on the personality of the commissioners and yet is so checked that the white light of public opinion may penetrate into its innermost recesses at any time. ”