NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1963 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 70

HOUSE BILL 197

 

 

AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS IN THE CITY OF MONROE.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1. The City of Monroe is hereby authorized and empowered to use, upon such terms and conditions as may be mutually agreed upon by the City Council and Board of County Commissioners of Union County, the registration books, process and records of said county for the registration of voters or the acceptance of registration applications, and in such event, the provisions of law which are applicable to the registration of voters in Union County shall apply to the City of Monroe for the purpose of any primary, general, regular or special election, and the registrar for each respective precinct, to the end that every voter properly registered upon the joint registration book or books for each voting precinct within the corporate limits of the City of Monroe shall be deemed to be lawfully registered for all primary, general, regular or special elections in which voters of the City of Monroe are entitled to participate, and whether called or held under the authority of the City Council of the City of Monroe or the County Board of Elections or the County Board of Commissioners of Union County, and whether county-wide or city-wide only.

Sec. 2. The Board of Elections of Union County shall have the full conduct of and control over all elections whether primary, general, special, or regular held in the City of Monroe as now or hereafter provided by law in the case of all other elections conducted by said board of elections, including, but not limited to: registration of voters; custody of registration books and records; hearing appeals from voters denied registration; conducting such elections; appointment of judges, registrars and canvassers; and publishing notice of elections; provided that the results of all municipal elections shall be certified to the Clerk of the City of Monroe by the county board of elections not later than one day following its canvass.

Sec. 3. In the event that it shall become necessary or desirable to hold any special election in the City of Monroe for any purpose, the same shall be held, at the request of the city council, in the manner herein provided, and after notice shall be given for at least thirty (30) days by advertisement in some newspaper published in the City of Monroe, the same to be given by the Union County Board of Elections.

Sec. 4. All primary elections for the nomination of elective officers of the City of Monroe shall be conducted by the Union County Board of Elections as herein provided for the conduct of other elections and in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 498 of the 1959 Session Laws, and the said board shall perform all duties in connection therewith, including, but not limited to, those things therein provided to be done by the clerk, the mayor, or the aldermen, and all petitions, applications, statements or other things required to be filed with the clerk shall be filed with the chairman of said county board of elections.

Sec. 5. Elections on the issuance of bonds of the City of Monroe shall be conducted under the provisions of Article 28, Chapter 160, of the General Statutes of North Carolina, except that:

(1)       The provisions for a new registration of voters authorized by paragraph 3, G. S. 160-387, shall not apply.

(2)       Registrars and judges in such elections shall be named by the county board of elections.

Sec. 6. Those provisions of Article 14 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes of North Carolina dealing with canvassing the votes and declaring the results of the election are hereby amended to the extent that such results shall be delivered by the registrars, judges, and precinct ballot counters as provided by G. S. 163-85, immediately following the completion of the counting of such ballots, and the Union County Board of Elections shall meet at 9:00 a.m. on the day following the elections, at the city hall of the City of Monroe, to open the returns and judicially determine the results of the voting in the manner required by G. S. 163-86, and shall immediately proclaim the results of said canvass at the door of said city hall in the manner required by G. S. 163-91.

Sec. 7. The chairman of the county board of elections, within one day after the proclamation of the results of the election as provided for herein, shall furnish the elected municipal officers with a certificate of election under his hand and seal. Such elected officers shall meet and qualify as and when now or hereafter provided by law relating to elected city officials of the City of Monroe. Except as amended herein, the other provisions of North Carolina General Statutes 163-92 shall be applicable to the election of city officers of the City of Monroe, and challenges in any municipal primary, general, regular or special election shall be made to said county board of elections in the manner prescribed by G. S. 163-79.1.

Sec. 8. Abstracts of votes for the election of city officers shall be prepared in the manner provided in North Carolina General Statutes 163-86 and 163-88 and shall be filed with the Clerk of the City of Monroe to be recorded in a permanent file in the office of said clerk.

Sec. 9. Notice of any municipal primary, general, special, or regular election shall be given by the county board of elections by publication, in a newspaper published in the City of Monroe, for thirty (30) days next preceding the last date upon which a voter may register for such election.

Sec. 10. The City Council of the City of Monroe and the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Union shall share in the expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this Act in a manner deemed just and proper by the said two governing boards.

Sec. 11. Session Laws of 1953, Chapter 97, and Private Laws of 1913, Chapter 446, are specifically repealed. All other laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed, including, but not limited to, Private Laws of 1899, Chapter 352, Sections 4, 5, 6 and 34, Session Laws of 1959, Chapter 498, Private Laws of 1919, Chapter 138, Session Laws of 1949, Chapter 641, Section 6; provided that the parts of any of the laws enumerated in this sentence not in conflict with this Act shall not be repealed.

Sec. 12. The provisions of Articles 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13 and 14 of Chapter 163 of the General States of North Carolina, and General Statutes 163-115.1, as now or hereafter applicable to Union County shall be applicable to the City of Monroe.

Sec. 13. This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after the date of its ratification, except that the sewer bond election to be held in the City of Monroe in March of 1963 shall not be affected by this Act. All elections heretofore held or to be held by the City of Monroe in which the registration books, process or records of Union County were used or ordered to be used are hereby in all respects ratified, validated and confirmed regardless of whether or not the registration for said election occurred before the passage of this Act.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 19th day of March, 1963.