USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc. > Part 40
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4. Civilized | rsons of Indian descent not members of any tribe. Every person convicted of bribery shall be excluded from the right of suffrage unless restored to civil rights ; and no person who shall have made or become directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of any election at which he shall offer to vote,. shall be permitted to vote at such election.
SEC. 13. No elector shall vote except in the town, ward, village or election district in which he actually resides.
SEC. 14. The general election prescribed in the Constitution shall be held in the several towns, wards, villages and election districts on the Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday in November in each year, at which time there shall be chosen such Representatives in Congress, Electors of President and Vice President, State officers, and county officers as are by law to be elected in such year.
SEC. 15. All elections shall be held in each town at the place where the last town-meeting was held, or at such other place as shall have been ordered at such last meeting, or as shall have been ordered by the Supervisors when they establish more than one election poll, except that the first election after the organization of a new town shall be held at the place directed in the act or proceeding by which it was organized; and all elections in villages constituting separate elec- tion districts and in the wards of cities, shall be held at the place to be ordered by the Trustees. of such village, or the Common Council of such city, at least ten days before such election, un- less a different provision is made in the act incorporating such village or city.
SEC. 16. Whenever it shall become impossible or inconvenient to hold an election at the place designated therefor. the Board of Inspectors, after having assembled at or as near as prac- ticable to such place, and before receiving any votes may adjourn to the nearest convenient place for holding the election, and at such adjourned place shall forthwith proceed with the election. Upon adjourning any election as hereinbefore provided, the Board of Inspectors shall cause proc- lamation thereof to be made, and shall station a Constable or some other proper person at the place where the adjournment was made, to notify all electors arriving at such place of adjourn- ment, and the place to which it was made.
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SEC. 20. A registry of electors shall annually be made :
1. In each ward or election district of every city which, at the last previous census, had a population of three thousand or more.
2. In each ward or election district of every incorporated village in which, by law, sep- arate elections are held; which village at the last preceding census, had a popula- tion of fifteen hundred or more.
3. In every town containing a village which, at said census, had a population of fifteen hundred or more, in which village separate general elections are not by law required to be held.
4. In all towns any part of which shall have been embraced in any part of any city or village in which a registration by this chapter is required.
Such registration shall be made in the manner provided by this chapter. The persons authorized by law to act as Inspectors of Election in each of such towns, wards or election dis- tricts shall constitute the Board of Registry therefor.
SEC. 21. The said Inspectors shall have their first meeting on Tuesday, four weeks pre- ceding each general election, at the place where said election is to be held ; and in election districts at which there were polled at the previous general election three hundred votes or less, they shall sit for one day, and in districts at which there were more than three hundred votes polled, they shall have power to sit two days if necessary, for the purpose of making such list. They shall meet at 9 o'clock in the forenoon and hold their meetings open until 8 o'clock in the evening of each day during which they shall so sit. The Clerks appointed by law to act as Clerks of Election shall act as Clerks of the Board of Registry on the day of election only. The proceedings shall be open, and all electors of the district shall be entitled to be heard in relation to corrections or additions to said registry. They shall have the same powers to preserve order which Inspectors of Election have on election days, and in towns vacancies in the Board shall be filled in the same manner that vacancies are filled at elections.
SEC. 22. The said Inspectors at their first meeting, and before doing any business, shall severally take and subscribe the oath of Inspectors at a general election, and said Inspectors shall at their first meeting make a registry of all the electors of their respective districts, placing thereon the full names, alphabetically arranged according to surnames, in one column, and in another the residence by number and name of street or other location, if known. If any elector's residence is at any hotel or public boarding-house the name of the hotel or boarding-house shall be stated in the registry. They shall put thereon the names of all persons residing in their elec- tion district appearing on the poll-list kept at the last preceding general election, and are author- ized to take therefor such poll-list from the office where kept, omitting such as have died or removed from the district, and adding the names of all other persons known to them to be elect- ors in such district. In case of the formation of a new election district since the last preceding general election, the said Board therein may make such registry from the best means at their command, and may, if necessary, procure therefor certified copies of the last poll-list. They shall complete said registry as far as practicable at their first meeting, and shall make four copies thereof, and certify the original and each copy to be a true list of the electors in their district so far as the same are known to them. One of said copies shall be immediately posted in a conspicuous place in the room in which their meeting was held, and be accessible to any elector for examina- tion or making copies thereof, and one copy shall be retained by each Inspector for revision and correction at the second meeting. They shall within two days after said first meeting file the original registry made by them, and said poll-list in the office of the proper town, city or village clerk, and may, in their discretion, cause ten printed copies of said registry to be made and posted in ten of the most public places of said election district, or may publish the same in a newspaper at un expense not exceeding one cent for each name.
SEC. 23. The Inspectors shall hold their second meeting at the same place designated for holding elections on the Tuesday two weeks preceding the election. They shall meet at 9 o'clock in the forenoon. In election districts having less than three hundred voters, as shown by the
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preliminary registry, the Board shall complete the registry on the same day ; but if there are more than that number of voters, they shall sit two days. They shall remain in session until 8 o'clock in the evening. They shall revise and correct the registry first by erasing the name of any person who shall be proved to their satisfaction by the oaths of two electors of the district to be not entitled to vote therein at the next ensuing election, unless such person shall appear and if chal- lenged, shall answer the questions and take the oath hereinafter provided ; secondly, by entering thereon the names of every elector entitled to vote in the district at the next election who shall appear before the Board and require it, and state his place of residence, giving street and num- ber, if numbered, or location, as hereinbefore provided, if challenged answer the questions, and take the oaths provided in case of challenge at an election ; but if any person shall refuse to answer all such questions or to take such oath, his name shall not be registered. Any person who is not twenty-one years of age before the date when the registry is required to be corrected, but will be if he lives until the day of election, shall have his name put on the registry if he be other- wise qualified to be an elector. Any elector who did not vote at the previous general election shall be entitled to be registered either at the preliminary or the final registration of electors by appearing before the Board of Registration of his election district and establishing his right to be registered, or, instead of a personal appearance, he may make his application to be registered to the Board in writing. Such application shall state the name and period of continuous resi- dence in the election district and place of residence therein, giving the number and street of the applicant, and, in case the person making the application is of foreign birth, he shall state when he came to the United States and to the State of Wisconsin, and the time and place of declaring his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States, and that he is entitled to vote at the election. Upon receiving such application, the Board of Registration shall register the name of such applicant, if it appears to the Board that the applicant is, by his statement, entitled to vote. Such statement shall be made under oath, and shall be preserved by the Board and be filed in the office of the village or city clerk, as the case may be. All city and village clerks shall keep blanks for making the application for registration, as provided by this section. The form shall be prescribed by the Secretary of State. Every person named in this section shall be subject to the same punishment for any false statement or other offense in respect thereto as is provided in case of such false statement or other offense by an elector offering to vote at an election. . After such registry shall have been fully completed on the days above mentioned, no name shall be added thereto by any person or upon any pretext. Within three days after the second meeting the said Board shall cause four copies of the registry to be made, each of which shall be certified by them to be a correct registry of the electors of their district, one of which shall be kept by each Inspector for use on election day, and one shall forthwith be filed in the office of the proper town, city or village clerk. All registries shall at all times be open to pub- lic inspection at the office where deposited without charge.
SEC. 24. On election day the Inspectors shall designate two of their number at the opening of the polls, who shall check the names of every elector voting in such district whose name is on the registry. No vote shall be received at any general election in any ward or election district defined in Section 20, if the name of the person offering to vote be not on said registry made at the second meeting as aforesaid, except as hereinafter provided ; but in case any one shall, after the last day for completing such registry, and before such election, become a qualified voter of the district, he shall have the same right to vote therein at such election as if his name had been duly registered, provided he shall, at the time he offers to vote, deliver to the Inspectors his affi- davit, in which he shall state the facts, showing that he has, since the completion of such regis- try, become a qualified elector of such district, and the facts showing that he was not such elector on the day such registry was completed, and shall also deliver to such Inspectors the affi- davits of two freeholders, electors in such election district, corroborating all the material state- ments in his affidavit. In case any person who was a voter at the last previous general election shall not be registered, such person shall be entitled to vote on making affidavit that he was enti- tled to vote at the previous election, and that he has not become disqualified by reason of removal
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from the election district or otherwise, since that election, which affidavit shall also be corrobo- rated by the affidavits of two freeholders, as is provided for other non-registered voters. No one freeholder shall be competent to make at any one election corroborating affidavits for more than three voters. All of said affidavits shall be sworn to before some officer authorized by the laws of this State to take depositions. The Inspectors shall keep a list of the names and residence of the electors voting whose names are not on said completed registry, and attach said list to the registry and return it, together with all such affidavits, to the proper town, city or village clerk. No compensation shall be paid or received for taking or certifying any such affidavits. On the day following the election, one of said poll-lists and one copy of the registry so kept and checked shall be attached together and filed in the office of the proper town, city or village clerk, and the other of said poll-lists and copy of the registry so kept and checked shall be returned to the County Clerk with the returns of the election. Such Inspectors shall give notice by advertisement in a newspaper printed in the city, village or town where such registration was made, of the registry, and shall include in such notice all additions to and omissions from the preliminary list, and shall also state where the election is to be held. In case there be no newspaper printed in such city, village or town, such notice shall be given by posting copies thereof in three or more public places in each ward or election district in such city, village or town. For publication of such notice in any such newspaper the publisher thereof shall be entitled to the same compensation per folio as is prescribed for publishing other legal notices.
COMMON SCHOOLS.
SEC. 413. The formation of any school district shall be by written order of the Town Board, describing the territory embraced in the same, to be filed with the Town Clerk within twenty days after the making thereof. The Supervisors shall deliver to a taxable inhabitant of the district their notice thereof in writing, describing its boundaries, and appointing a time and place for the first district meeting, and shall therein direct such inhabitant to notify every quali- fied voter of the district, either personally or by leaving a written notice at his place of rest- dence, of the time and place of such meeting, at least five days before the time appointed therefor, and said inhabitant shall notify the voters of such district accordingly, and indorse thereon a return containing the names of all persons thus notified, and said notice and return shall be recorded as a part of the record of the first meeting in such district.
SEC. 414. In case such notice shall not be given, or the inhabitants of a district shall neg- lect or refuse to assemble and form a district meeting when so notified, or in case any school dis- trict having been formed or organized shall afterward be disorganized, so that no competent authority shall exist therein to call a special district meeting, in the manner hereinafter pro- vided, notice shall be given by the Town Board, and served in the manner prescribed in the pre- ceding section. Whenever a district meeting shall be called as prescribed in this and the preceding section, it shall be the duty of the electors of the district to assemble at the time and place so directed.
SEC. 415. Whenever it shall be necessary to form a district from two or more adjoining towns, the Town Boards of such towns shall meet together and form such districts by their writ- ten order, describing the territory embraced in such district, signed by at least two of the Super- visors of each town; and shall file one such order with the Town Clerk of each town, and deliver the notice of formation to a taxable inhabitant of such district, and cause the saine to bo served and returned in the time and manner hereinbefore prescribed ; and any such district may be altered only by the joint action of the Town Boards of such towns in the same manner that other districts are altered.
SEC. 416. Every school district shall be deemed duly organized when any two of the off- cers elected at the first legal meeting thereof shall have consented to serve in the offices to which they have been respectively elected, by a written acceptance thereof filed with the clerk of tho first meeting, and recorded in the minutes thereof; and every school district shall be considered
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ms duly organized after it shall have exercised the franchises and privileges of a district for the term of two years.
SEC. 425. The annual meeting of all school districts in which graded schools of two or Tore departments are taught, shall be held on the second Monday of July, and of all other school districts on the last Monday of September, in each year. The hour of such meeting shall be seven' o'clock in the afternoon, unless otherwise provided by a vote of the district, duly recorded at the last previous annual meeting; but at any annual meeting a majority of the electors present may determine that the annual meeting of such district shall be held on the last Monday of August instead of the last Monday of September. Said determination to take effect when a copy of the proceedings of said annual meeting in reference to such change shall have Teen filed with the Town Clerk in which the schoolhouse of such district is situated, and to remain in force until rescinded by a like vote of the electors of such district.
SEC. 426. The Clerk shall give at least six days' previous notice of every annual district meeting, by posting notices thereof in four or more public places in the district, one of which shall be affixed to the outer door of the schoolhouse, if there be one in the district, and he shall give like notices for every adjourned district meeting when such meeting shall have been adjourned for more than one month ; but no annual meeting shall be deemed illegal for want of due notice, unless it shall appear that the omission to give such notice was willful and fraudulent.
SEC. 427. Special district meetings may be called by the Clerk, or, in his absence, by the Directors or Treasurer, on written request of five legal voters of the district, in the manner prescribed for calling an annual meeting ; and the electors, when lawfully assembled at a special meeting, shall have power to transact the same business as at the first and each annual meeting, except the election of officers. The business to be transacted at any special meeting shall be particularly specified in the notices calling the same, and said notices shall be posted six full days prior to the meeting. ' No tax or loan or debt shall be voted at a special meeting, unless three-fourths of the legal voters shall have been notified, either personally or by a written notice left at their places of residence, stating the time and place and objects of the meeting, and specifying the amount proposed to be voted, at least six days before the time appointed therefor. SEC. 428. Every person shall be entitled to vote in any school district meeting who is qqualified to vote at a general election for State and county officers, and who is a resident of such school district.
ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION OF DISTRICT TAXES.
SEC. 469. All school district taxes, unless otherwise specially provided by law, shall be assessed on the same kinds of property as taxes for town and county purposes ; and all personal Property which, on account of its location or the residence of its owner, is taxable in the town, hall, if such locality or residence be in the school district, be likewise taxable for school district Purposes.
BORROWING MONEY.
SEC. 474. Whenever, upon any unusual exigency, any school district shall, before the annual meeting, vote a special tax to be collected with the next levy, the district may, by vote, author- = the District Board to borrow for a period not exceeding one year a sum not exceeding the mount of such tax, and by such vote set apart such tax when collected to repay such loan, and . Thereupon the District Board may borrow such money of any person and on such terms and exe- ute and deliver to the lender such obligation therefor, and such security for the repayment, acluding a mortgage or pledge of any real or personal property of the district, subject to the directions contained in the vote of the district as may be agreed upon and not prohibited by Lar.
SEC. 498. Every District Clerk who shall willfully neglect to make the annual report for Luis district as required by law shall be liable to pay the whole amount of money lost by such
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district in consequence of his neglect, which shall be recovered in an action in the name of and for the use of the district.
SEC. 499. Every Town Clerk who shall neglect or refuse to make and deliver to the County Superintendent his annual report, as required in this chapter within the time limited therefor. shall be liable on his official bond to pay the town the amount which such town or any school district therein, shall lose by such neglect or refusal, with interest thereon ; and every County Superintendent who shall neglect or refuse to make the report required of him by this chapter to the State Superintendent shall be liable to pay to each town the amount which such town or any school district therein shall lose by such neglect or refusal, with interest thereon, to be recovered in either case in an action prosecuted by the Town Treasurer in the name of the town.
SEC. 503. Every member of a district board in any school district in this State in which a list of text-books has been adopted according to law, who shall, within three years from the date of such adoption, or thereafter, without the consent of the State Superintendent, order a change of text-books in such district, shall forfeit the sum of fifty dollars.
SEC. 513. Every woman of twenty-one years of age and upward may be elected or appointed as director, treasurer or clerk of a school district, director or secretary of a town board under the township system ; member of a board of education in cities, or county superintendent.
SEC. 560. In reckoning school months, twenty days shall constitute a month and one hun- dred days five months.
ASSESSMENT OF TAXES.
SEC. 1035. The terms "real property," "real estate " and "land," when used in this title, shall include not only the land itself, but all buildings, fixtures, improvements, rights and privileges appertaining thereto.
SEC. 1036. The term " personal property," as used in this title, shall be construed to mean and include toll-bridges, saw-logs, timber and lumber, either upon land or afloat, steamboats, ships and other vessels, whether at home or abroad ; buildings upon leased lands, if such build- ings have not been included in the assessment of the land on which they are erected ; ferry-boats, including the franchise for running the same; all debts due from solvent debtors, whether on account, note, contract, bond, mortgage or other security, or whether such debts are due or to become due ; and all goods, wares, merchandise, chattels, moneys and effects of any nature or description having any real or marketable value and not included in the term "real property," as above defined.
SEC. 1037. The improvements on all lands situated in this State, which shall have been entered under the provisions of the act of Congress entitled " An act to secure homesteads to act- ual settlers on the public domain," approved May twentieth, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and which shall be actually occupied and improved by the person so entering the same, or his heirs, shall be subject to taxation, and such improvements shall be assessed as personal property. All taxes levied thereon shall be collected out of the personal property of the occu- pant of such lands, and in no other manner.
SEC. 1038. The property in this section described is exempt from taxation, to wit:
1. That owned exclusively by the United States or by this State, but no lands contracted to be sold by the State shall be exempt.
2. That owned exclusively by any county, city, village, town or school district; but lands purchased by counties at tax sales shall be exempt only in the cases provided in Sec- tion Eleven Hundred and Ninety-one.
3. Personal property owned by any religious, scientific, literary or benevolent association, used exclusively for the purposes of such association, and the real property, if not leased, or not otherwise used for pecuniary profit, necessary for the location and con- venience of the buildings of such association, and embracing the same not exceeding
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ten acres : and the lands reserved for grounds of a chartered college or university, not exceeding forty acres ; and parsonages, whether of local churches or districts, and whether occupied by the pastor permanently or rented for his benefit. The occasional leasing of such buildings for schools, public lectures or concerts, or the leasing of such parsonages, shall not render them liable to taxation.
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