Page:Messages of the President of the United States on the Relations of the United States to Spain (1898).djvu/90

 Rh The municipal boards shall not deliberate nor take any action unless at least twelve members are present.

The clerks of the superior courts shall be the secretaries of the provincial boards, and the clerks of the courts of first instance, or, in their absence, the clerks of the municipal courts, shall be the secretaries of the municipal boards.

The secretaries shall have neither a voice nor a vote, and shall be assisted by the employees of the respective secretariats.

The respective presidents shall convene the members and such substitutes as they may deem necessary for all the sessions the boards may hold. If, in spite of this, a sufficient number are not present, the session shall be held on the following day, after the substitutes residing in the capital have been summoned, in addition to the members present.

In every electoral precinct there shall be a board charged with the supervision of the voting, consisting of a president and the supervisors (interventores) appointed by the census board and by the candidates who have a right to nominate them, and who make use of that right.

This census board shall be the provincial board in the case of elections of deputies to the Cortes and of representatives or provincial deputies to the Cortes, and of representatives, and the municipal board when an election of councilmen (concejales) is to be held.

In every summons for a general or partial election a single day shall be designated for the voting, which day shall always be Sunday.

The voting shall take place simultaneously in all the precincts on the day fixed, beginning punctually at 8 o'clock in the morning and continuing uninterruptedly until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when it shall be declared finally closed, and the counting of the votes shall begin.

The voting shall be secret, by ballot, and shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by the regulations.

There shall in no case be an armed force at the door of the electoral college, nor shall any such force enter it, except in the case of disturbance of the public peace and upon the requisition of the President.

Spaniards possessing the qualifications required by article 22 of the constitution of the monarchy, are eligible to the office of senator, provided they are not included in any of the cases of disability or incompatibility fixed by law.

Elections of senators shall be held in accordance with the provisions of the laws of February 8, 1877, and of January —, 1879.

The senators, after they have been admitted by the senate, represent the nation individually and collectively.

All male Spaniards of the secular order, not less than 25 years of age, in the enjoyment of all civil rights, are eligible to the office of deputy to the Cortes, provided they are not included in any of the cases of disability or incompatibility fixed by law.

The deputies to the Cortes shall be elected directly by the electors of the electoral districts, subject to this law and the regulations; but after they have been elected, and admitted by Congress, they represent the nation individually and collectively.

Those provisions of the electoral law of the peninsula of June 26, 1890, which relate specially to the election of deputies to the Cortes and the discharge of their duties, apply to the deputies to the Cortes from the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Hence, the articles in question are inserted as an appendix to the present law, in the form in which they are to be observed in accordance with this law.

Those Spaniards may be counsellors of administration and representatives who possess the qualifications required for those offices by the constitution of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico.