Page:The Federal and state constitutions v5.djvu/281

Rh Upon motion made and seconded in either house, by one-fifth of the members present, the yeas and nays upon any question shall be taken and entered upon the journals.

The election for members of the general assembly shall be held for the respective districts, and counties, at the places where they are now held, or may be directed hereafter to be held, in such manner as may be prescribed by law, on the first Thursday in August, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and every two years thereafter. But the general assembly may change the time of holding the elections. The first election shall be held when the vote shall be taken on the ratification of this constitution by the voters of the State, and the general assembly then elected shall meet on the 15th day after the approval thereof by the Congress of the United States, if it fall not on Sunday, but if it shall so fall, then on the next day thereafter; and the members then elected shall hold their seats until their successors are elected at a regular election.

The executive department shall consist of a governor, (in whom shall be vested the supreme executive power of the State,) a lieutenant-governor, a secretary of state, an auditor, a treasurer, a superintendent of public works, a superintendent of public instruction, and an attorney-general, who shall be elected for a term of four years, by the qualified electors of the State, at the same time and places, and in the same manner as members of the general assembly are elected. Their term of office shall commence on the first day, of January next, after their election, and continue until their successors are elected and qualified: Provided, That the officers first elected shall assume the duties of their office ten days after the approval of the constitution by the Congress of the United States, and shall hold their offices four years from and after the first day of January, 1869.

No person shall be eligible as governor or lieutenant-governor, unless he shall have attained the age of thirty years, shall have been a citizen of the United States five years, and shall have been a resident of this State for two years next before the election; nor shall the person elected to either of these two offices be eligible to the same office more than four years in any term of eight years, unless the office shall have been cast upon him as lieutenant-governor or president of the senate.

The return of every election for officers of the executive department shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of government by the returning officers, directed to the speaker of the house of representatives, who shall open and publish the same in the presence of a majority of the members of both houses of the general assembly. The persons having the highest number of votes respectively shall be declared duly elected; but if two or more be equal and highest in votes for the same office, then one of them shall be chosen by joint ballot of both houses of the general assembly. Contested elections shall be determined by a joint vote of both houses of the general assembly, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.