Page:Messages of the President of the United States on the Relations of the United States to Spain (1898).djvu/96

 Rh (2) To preserve the printed copies of the final lists which shall have been taken from the provincial registers.

(3) To communicate, through the president, with all public authorities and officers.

(4) To receive and decide all complaints that are addressed to them.

(5) To exercise disciplinary jurisdiction over all persons taking part, officially, in electoral operations, imposing fines to the amount of 1,000 pesetas, which, the case arising, shall be collected by their order, by judges of first instance.

(6) To settle questions that may arise in connection with the execution of this law and its regulations, adapting the provisions of both to the condition of the island so as to secure independence and a genuine vote.

The insular board of Cuba shall, moreover, issue such orders as it may think proper, for the holding of elections in those districts in which the state of the insurrection shall not permit the taking of the electoral census in time, or to hold such elections according to the provisions of this law and the regulations for its execution. For this purpose each of the districts in question shall appoint delegates who, together with seven of the largest taxpayers on agricultural and manufacturing property, and seven capacities (?) shall proceed to hold the election, according to such instruction as may be communicated to them by the insular board.

Second. In execution of the provisions of article 4 of this law, before the 26th day of December next, the presiding judges of the superior courts shall appoint the magistrates who are to preside over the provincial electoral census boards, and the officers who are to preside over the municipal boards in those localities in which there are no judges of first instance.

Third. In order that the elections may be held as speedily as possible, and the new political and administrative officers may perform their functions in the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, the following shall be the mode of procedure:

On the 1st day of January, 1898, at 8 o'clock a. m., the president of the municipal electoral census board, having been appointed by the superior court of the province, shall proceed, in the hall of sessions of the municipal district, and in public session, to organize said municipal board in the manner provided in Art. 4 of this law.

The alcalde shall then state the result of the last census, and shall deliver to the president of the board a duplicate list, in alphabetical order, and with correlative numbering of all the inhabitants above 25 years of age whose names appear in said census, in which shall be stated their ages, residences, and occupations, and whether they are able to read and write, All the sheets belonging to this list shall be signed by the alcalde and the secretary of the municipal board.

The president on his own responsibility shall immediately cause one of the copies of this list to be posted in the usual place for municipal edicts and proclamations, and shall at the same time make known by a proclamation or through the crier that, on the 5th of the aforesaid month of January, at 8 a.m., the municipal census board shall meet in public session in the hall of sessions of the municipal board.

Before the said 5th day of January the judges of first instance shall send to the presidents of the respective municipal census boards a certified list of the judicial decisions which affect the electoral capacity of the inhabitants of each municipal district, and the municipal judges shall send a list, likewise certified, of the aforesaid inhabitants who shall have died since the date of the last quinquennial census.

On the 5th day of January, the municipal board shall organize, in public session, at the time and in the place aforesaid, and the president shall lay on the table the list of residents prepared by the alcalde, the last census, and the certificates sent in by the judges.

The board shall hear all representations that shall be made concerning enrollments, exclusions, and corrections. For claims with regard to enrollment it shall be sufficient to furnish evidence by means of two witnesses that the person whose enrollment in the list is desired possesses the requisites that are legally required to make him an elector.

The public session being terminated, the junta shall proceed to the preparation of the following lists:

1. A list of all the inhabitants who possess the right to vote, according to the census list.

2. A list of those who have died since said list was prepared according to the data furnished by the respective municipal judges.

3. A list of those who are disqualified.

These lists shall be published as provided for in the first paragraph of this resolution, for the three following days, during which time an appeal may be taken to the provincial board.

In the same session the municipal board shall order the division of the voters of the municipal district into sections if their number shall exceed 500, assigning to each section a number approximately equal, according to the conditions of each locality.