NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1965 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 871

SENATE BILL 48

 

 

AN ACT TO AMEND ARTICLE 17 OF CHAPTER 163 OF THE GENERAL STATUTES OF NORTH CAROLINA SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR VOTING BY NEW RESIDENTS OF THE STATE FOR ELECTORS OF PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1.  That Article 17 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes of North Carolina be and the same is hereby amended by adding thereto four new Sections to be known as Sections 112.1, 112.2, 112.3, and 112.4 to read as follows:

"Sec. 163-112.1.  New Residents May Vote for President. A person who has been a resident of this State for not less than sixty days immediately prior to the date of a Presidential election shall be entitled to vote for Presidential and Vice Presidential Electors in such election but for no other offices, provided he would then be a qualified elector in this State except for the fact that he had not resided in this State for one year prior to the election."

"Sec. 163-112.2.  Voting for President by New Resident. Persons qualifying under G.S. 163-112.1 and desiring to vote for Presidential and Vice Presidential Electors shall register in a separate registration book kept by the chairman of the county board of elections for such purpose, which said registration shall contain all of the information now required by law for the registering of resident voters."

"Sec. 163-112.3.  Application and Registration of New Resident Voters. Any person qualified to vote under the provisions of G.S. 163-112.1 and desiring to vote for Presidential and Vice Presidential Electors, shall make application for a Presidential ballot in person to the chairman of the county board of elections in the county in which such applicant is then residing, which said application shall be made not more than twenty days before the day set for the holding of such election and no later than five o'clock P. M. on Friday preceding the day set for holding such election. Such application shall be in the form of an affidavit signed and sworn to in the presence of the chairman of such county board of elections, who shall administer the oath thereto, which such affidavit shall be in substantially the following form:

'Application and Affidavit of New Resident For Voting

For Presidential and Vice Presidential Electors.

State of North Carolina

County of__________________.

I, _________________________, do solemnly swear that I am a citizen of the United States; that I am at least twenty-one years of age; that I have been a legal resident of the State of North Carolina since _____________, 19______; that I now reside at _________________Street in the (City) (Town) of ________________ in __________ precinct, of the County of , North Carolina; that I will have been a resident thereof at least sixty days prior to the date of the next Presidential Election; that I will be qualified to vote in said precinct for Electors for President and Vice President of the United States; that I have not voted, nor will I vote in the state of my former residence, or elsewhere in North Carolina, and I do now hereby make application for an official Presidential ballot for my use in voting in said election in the State of North Carolina.

Signed _________________________

_________________________

Street Address

Subscribed and sworn to before me this ____ day of _____________, 19_____

Signed _________________________

Chairman County Board of Elections of

_________________County.'

If the chairman of the county board of elections of said county is satisfied that the application and affidavit provided for in G.S. 163-112.3 is in proper order, and that said applicant is qualified to vote under the provisions of this Act for Electors for President and Vice President, he shall then give to the applicant one of the official Presidential and Vice Presidential ballots as furnished to him by the State Board of Elections. The applicant, upon receiving such ballot, shall mark the same in the presence of the chairman, but in such manner that he will not disclose to said chairman how he has marked the same. He shall then fold said ballot, concealing the marking thereon, and deliver it to said chairman of the county board of elections, who shall initial the ballot on the top margin thereof and place a consecutive number thereon, and then place said ballot in a container envelope, similarly numbered, prepared for such purpose and seal the same. On the face of said envelope there shall be printed or typed the following:

'This envelope contains the Presidential ballot of _______________, a new resident of this county and State, presently residing in _________________ precinct in __________ County, North Carolina, and being voted pursuant to the provisions of Article 17 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes of North Carolina, as amended by the Session Laws of 1965.'

The chairman shall safely keep the sealed envelope containing the marked ballot of said new resident voter until the morning of the day of the election in which said ballot is to be voted, on which said day and before noon, the chairman of the county board of elections shall deliver, or cause to be delivered, said ballot to the registrar of the precinct in which said applicant is then residing together with a list of all new resident voters voting in said election and residing in said precinct."

"Sec. 163-112.4.  Posting of List of New Resident Voters, and the Manner of Voting the Ballots of Such Voters. The registrars of the various voting precincts in the county to whom such ballots shall be delivered shall post the list of such voters in a public place at the polls by noon on election day when the list of absentee voters, if any, is posted. Said ballots shall be subject to challenge as absentee ballots are now subject to challenge, and if the challenge is sustained, the envelope containing the ballot shall not be opened, but shall be returned as provided for the returning of rejected absentee ballots, marked 'Challenge sustained'. Such envelopes shall be carefully preserved and shall be returned to the county board of elections at the time the returns from said precinct are returned, and shall be preserved intact by said chairman as absentee ballots are now preserved. The ballots of all new resident voters, which are not challenged or, if the challenge was not sustained, as may be the case, shall be counted and tallied as and in the manner now provided by law for the counting and tallying of absentee ballots, and shall be made a part of the official election returns from said precinct for Presidential and Vice Presidential Electors only."

Sec. 2.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 3.  This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 9th day of June, 1965.