NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1959 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 851

HOUSE BILL 1110

 

 

AN ACT AMENDING SECTION 3, CHAPTER 327, PRIVATE LAWS OF 1913, AS AMENDED, SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR NONPARTISAN PRIMARIES IN THE TOWN OF HAMLET.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1. That Section 3, Chapter 327, Private Laws of 1913, as rewritten by Chapter 219, Private Laws of 1923 and amended by Chapter 475, Public-Local Laws of 1931, be and the same is hereby further amended by adding at the end thereof three subsections to be numbered (a), (b) and (c) and reading as follows:

(a)       On and after the effective date of this Act all candidates to be voted on in general municipal elections in the Town of Hamlet shall be nominated in nonpartisan primaries in a manner and form herein prescribed, and no other name shall be printed on the official ballot for such general elections unless such candidate or candidates are nominated under the provisions of this Act.

"(b)      On a second Tuesday preceding the general municipal election in the Town of Hamlet, there shall be called, held, conducted and concluded under the direction of the Mayor and Board of Commissioners of the Town of Hamlet by election officials, designated and approved by them for that purpose, a nonpartisan primary for the purpose of nominating candidates for mayor and commissioners for the Town of Hamlet. All candidates shall file their notices of candidacy with the town clerk not later than 5:00 o'clock P. M. on the fourth Tuesday preceding such general election and each shall pay a filing fee of ten dollars ($10.00).

"(c)      The registration books shall be opened on the sixth, seventh, and eighth Saturdays next preceding the first Tuesday after the first Monday in May when the general election is held. The registration books shall not thereafter be opened for registration for either the primary or the general municipal election except for persons qualifying by the time of closing of the books and the general election, as in the case of newly qualified voters under the general election laws of the State. The fifth Saturday next preceding such general election shall be set for challenge day for the registration. In the event not more than two candidates file for each office to be filled in any general election, no primary shall be held. If more than two candidates file for each position, a primary shall be held and only the names of the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the primary shall be placed on the general election ballot. In no case will there be a second primary. In all other respects, primary elections for the Town of Hamlet shall be governed by the general law provided for primary elections in subchapter II of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes insofar as such general laws may be construed to apply to municipal primaries, and in all other respects where the general laws of the State cannot be construed to conform to the provisions of the procedures of a municipal primary, said primary shall be governed by rules and regulations to be adopted by the Mayor and Board of Commissioners of the Town of Hamlet for such primaries."

Sec. 2. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the provisions of 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, 1959.