PART V.

OF THE NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES.

Note.-Certain provisions in this part appear to be in conflict with provisions of chapter 451, laws of 1903. Where there is such conflict the provisions of chapter 451, laws of 1903, prevail so far as relates to officers to be nominated under said act. As to officers which are excepted from the operation of chapter 451, laws of 1903, the provisions herein prevail.

Provisions applicable to what elections, 58.
Manner in which nominations made, 59.
Certificate of nomination, what to contain, 60.
Filing nomination papers and certificates, 61.
Nominations to be certified to county clerk, 62.

Nomination, how declined; filling of vacancy-Votes for deceased nominee, 63.

Right of candidates to party name, 64.

County and municipal clerk's notice of nominations, 65. '
Information to voters; fee for publishing, C6.

58. Provisions applicable to what elections. [Sec. 29, Statutes of 1898.] The mode of nominating candidates and the preparation and use of official ballots, as hereinafter prescribed, shall apply to all general elections in all towns, cities, villages, wards and election districts; to all regular city elections, to all judicial elections, except as herein provided; to all special elections for officers whose election is required by law to be at a general election, when such special election is to be held at the same time and place as the general election, but not to other special elections.

59. Manner in which nominations made. [Sec. 30, Statutes of 1898, as amended by sec. 2, ch. 351, laws of 1899.] Candidates to be voted for at the elections to which this title applies may be nominated in the following manner:

First. By a convention or primary meeting held for the purpose, consisting of an organized assemblage of electors or

delegates representing a political party which at the last preceding general election before such convention polled at least one per cent of the entire vote cast in the state, county or other district or division, for which the nomination is made, for its candidate receiving the highest number of votes.

Second. In nominations for city officers, by a convention of at least thirty electors of the city or at least nine delegates chosen for the purpose; if for a ward office, at least ten electors of the ward must have participated in the caucus or ward meeting to nominate.

Third. A candidate for any such office may be nominated by a nomination paper1 or papers containing his name, the

FORM OF NOMINATION PAPER.

The undersigned, qualified electors and voters of the (state, county, district or city) of , in accordance with the provisions of chapter 5, Wisconsin Statutes of 1898, make the following nomination for the office specified below, namely:

County of

SS.

day of

Personally came before me this A. D. 190--, who. being first duly sworn, on oath says that he resides in and is a qualified elector of (name election district) in the (town, village or city of) that he is personally acquainted with each and all persons who have signed the foregoing nomination paper, that they and each of them are electors, and that their residence and place of business are truly stated in said nomination paper. Affiant further says that he is not a nominee in such paper, nor a candidate for any office to which it is intended as a nomination paper.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this

day of Notary Public,

A. D. 190

County, Wis.

NOTE. This affidavit may be sworn to before any officer authorized to administer oaths.

office for which he is nominated, his business or vocation, his residence, with street and number, if any, and the party or principle which he represents, expressed in not more than five words. Such paper shall be signed, if for an officer to be voted for throughout the state, by at least one thousand voters of the state; if for an officer to be elected by a county, district, or other division less than the state, by a number of voters thereof not less than one-half of one per cent of the whole number of votes cast therein at the last general election preceding such nomination and at least fifteen voters; if for a ward office in a ward polling less than one hundred and fifty votes, by at least ten electors of such ward; and if for a ward office in a ward polling more than that number of votes, by at least twenty electors thereof. Signatures need not be upon the same paper.

Each voter can sign for but one nomination to the same office; he shall add to his signature his business and residence, street and number, if any. But in using words to express the party or principles represented by a candidate nominated by a nomination paper, if the same name is used as pertains to some political party making a nomination by convention, the words "nomination paper" shall be used as a part of such designation. To each separate nomination paper containing signatures must be appended an affidavit, sworn to by some qualified elector, to the effect that he is personally acquainted with all the persons who have signed the foregoing nomination paper; that they are electors, and that their residence and business are truly stated in such paper. But such affidavit shall not be made by any person who is a nominee in such paper, or a candidate for any office to which it is intended as a nomination paper.

If the convention or caucus is held in a county, city, village, ward or other district or division created or the boundaries of which have been changed since the last preceding general election, the certificate of the officers of such convention or caucus that the political party represented therein cast, at such election, in the territory comprising the county, city, village, ward or other district or division for which such convention or caucus is held, at least one per centum of the entire vote cast in the territory now embraced therein, shall be prima. facie evidence of the fact so recited; and if nominations are made by nomination papers in any such county, city, village or other district or division concerning which no other pro

vision is made herein, the affidavits of two electors who have signed such papers to the effect that they are signed by not less than one per centum of the whole number of votes cast at such election in the territory now embraced therein shall be prima facie evidence of that fact.

Nominations by conventions; validity of provision. A limitation of the right to have ballots printed at the public expense by providing that nominations can only be made by conventions representing parties which polled a certain per cent. of the vote cast at the last general election is not in violation of a declaration in a constitution that elections shall be free and equal, and that all laws regulating them shall be uniform throughout the state. The court said: "This contention is plausible but unsound. The act does not deny to any voter the exercise of the elective franchise because he happens to be a member of a party which at the last general election polled less than three per cent. of the entire vote cast. The provision referred to is but a regulation, and we think a reasonable one, in regard to the printing of tickets. The use of official ballots renders it absolutely necessary to make some regulations in order to ascertain what names shall be printed on the ballot:" De Walt v. Bartley, 146 Pa. St. 529, 543, 24 Atl. Rep. 185. The same view has been held in New Jersey, where the point was made that the labor of gathering signatures and putting nomination papers or petitions into shape was an unconstitutional discrimination against a class of voters and in favor of members of the older and larger political parties. It was answered that the right in the exercise of which it was claimed the voter was embarrassed is not the right to vote, but the right to form a party and vote as one of that party: State v. Black, 24 Atl. Rep. 489. It has been held in Missouri that the Australian ballot law is not invalid because of the declaration in the fundamental law that all elections shall be free and open: State v. McMillan, 18 S. W. Rep. 784. In Miner v. Olin, 159 Mass. 487, it was held that provisions of the statute requiring that a party should cast three per cent. of the entire vote or that the cau cuses of a party should be composed of at least twenty-five voters in order that the names of its candidates might be printed on the official ballots was not invalid. See the opinion of Marshall, J., in State v. Anderson, 100 Wis. 523, 533-537, to much the same effect as the cases cited in this paragraph.

A political party. There may be the prescribed number of votes cast at the preceding election to constitute the aggregation of voters a political party, but if the body does not avow or proclaim a dogma or doctrine which invites support from the community at large, and not a section or fragment of it, and which is necessarily antagonistic to the tenets of recognized organizations, or some of them, it cannot be a political party according to the legislative intent. A party comes within this definition and is not entitled to a place on the ballot if it is made up of several co-operating elements which have ordained no creed, adopted no platform, issued no declaration of principles, promulgated no fellowship of opinion or purpose in respect to public affairs or in opposition to the well-defined principles of established parties, and to become a member of which no change of faith nor absolution of allegiance from existing parties is required: Nomination of Jeffries, 9 Pa. Dist. Rep. 663.

Where a convention was regularly called by the committee and the unchallenged delegates chosen, though less than a majority of the whole effected a temporary organization and seated one of two contesting delegations, it was held to be the regular convention, and its nominee was entitled to have his name put on the official ballot: Beckwith v. Rucker, 62 Pac. Rep. 836 (Colorado).

A convention is the exclusive judge of the qualifications and credentials of persons claiming seats therein, and a minority of the delegates, as determined by the convention, cannot, by withdrawing therefrom and joining themselves to the persons whose credentials have been rejected, constitute a legal party convention. State v. Lavik, 83 N. W. Rep. 914 (North Dakota).

There may be the prescribed number of votes cast at a preceding election to constitute the aggregation of votes a political party, but if the body does not proclaim a dogma or doctrine which invites support from the community at large, and not a section or fragment of it, and which is necessarily antagonistic to the tenets of recognized organizations, or some of them, it cannot be a political party according to legislative intent: In re Jeffries 24 Pa. Co. Ct. R. 529.

Delegation of power by convention. A political convention may delegate to a committee appointed by it the power to make a nomination for it, and a nomination so made after the convention has adjourned is valid. In this case the resolution gave the committee power "to fill all vacancies that now exist or that may hereafter occur." It was held that the power to fill a vacancy existed independently of the statutory power to make a substituted nomination: State v. Benton, 34 Pac. Rep. 301. To the same effect is a Minnesota case: White v. Sanderson, 76 N. W. Rep. 1020.

Candidates nominated by papers are not the nominees of a political party, but of the individual electors nominating them, and only as such are entitled to have their names placed upon the ballot: Atkeson v. Lay, 22 S. W. Rep. 481, 484.

If two nomination papers are made in favor of the same candidate, one of them good, the other bad, the latter does not affect the former: Northcote v. Pulsford, L. R. 10 C. P. 476, 484.

Signatures to a nomination paper cannot be withdrawn unless the statute so provides. Hence where a regular nomination has been made the name of the nominee must be placed on the ballot though a number of persons who signed such paper afterwards file a paper withdrawing their signatures, thereby reducing, if such withdrawal was valid, the number of signatures below that required: Sterling v. Jones, 87 Md. 141, 39 Atl. Rep. 424.

Voter's signature. A statute expressing that "every voter signing a nomination paper shall sign the same in person, and shall add to his signature his place of residence," etc., means "that a voter shall, with his own hand, write his name and address; if anything less than this is permitted, the signing must be done at the request of the voter and in his presence. Previous authority or subsequent ratification is not enough:" Commonwealth v. Connelly, 163 Mass. 539.

Nomination by non-elector void. An English statute provides that "at any election of councillors to be held for any borough or ward,