Page:The Federal and state constitutions v5.djvu/302

2828 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 this Constitution by the Congress of the United States, and shall hold their offices four years from and after the first day of January.

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 person 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, the one of them shall be chosen by joint ballot of both Houses of the General Assembly. Contested elections shall be determined by a joint ballot of both Houses of the General Assembly in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

The Governor, before entering upon the duties of his office shall, in the presence of the members of both branches of the General Assembly, or before any Justice of the Supreme Court, take an oath or affirmation that he will support the Constitution and laws of the United States, and of the State of North Carolina, and that he will faithfully perform the duties appertaining to the office of Governor, to which he has been elected.

The Governor shall reside at the seat of government of this State, and he shall, from time to time, give the General Assembly information of the affairs of the State, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall deem expedient.

The Governor shall have power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons, after conviction, for all offences (except in cases of impeachment), upon such conditions as he may think proper, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the manner of applying for pardons. He shall biennially communicate to the General Assembly each case of reprieve, commutation or pardon granted, stating the name of each convict, the crime for which he was convicted, the sentence and its date, the date of the commutation, pardon or reprieve and the reasons therefor.

The officers of the Executive Department and of the public institutions of the State, shall at least five days previous to each regular session of the General Assembly, severally report to the Governor, who shall transmit such reports with his message to the General Assembly; and the Governor may, at any time, require information in writing from the officers in the Executive Department upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.