Elections.
After all the political parties have nominated their candidates then the struggle for election begins.
The period of a few months between the nominations and elections is spent by each party in trying to get votes for its candidate.
Every voter must be twenty-one years old, a resident of the state for one year, of the county six months, and of the precinct sixty days.
On election day the voter goes to the polling place and appears before the election officers, who will probably be the same ones who presided at the registration. You give your name and residence, and if you live in a city where registration is required you must produce your registration certificate and one of the judges may consult the registration book to see if you have registered. If found to be registered, the clerk will write your name and address upon the stub of the ballot book and endorse his own name on the back of the ballot, and remove the ballot from the book leaving the stub (called the primary stub) in the book.
The voter will go into a voting booth with the ballot folded, then unfold the ballot, take the stencil, press it on the ink pad and if you desire to vote a straight party ticket place the stencil mark in the circle immediately underneath the device of the party whose candidates you desire to vote for. If you desire to vote for candidates irrespective of any party affiliation you will place the stencil mark in the small square immediately following the name of each candidate for whom you desire to vote.
When the ballot is thus completed you lay the stencil aside, fold the ballot in exactly the same manner as when you received it from the clerk and then return it to the judge of the election, who removes the secondary stub from the ballot and deposits the ballot itself in the ballot box. If any voter spoils or defaces a ballot by mistake so that it cannot be used he may return it, and get another, and the fact noted by the clerk by writing the word "spoiled" on the stub and spoiled ballot.
No person except the election officers shall remain within fifty feet of the polls, except when voting.
It shall be the duty of the sheriff in each county before an election to secure in each precinct of the county a suitable room in which to hold the election, and have sufficient booths in which electors shall mark their ballots, screened from observation.
Our laws concerning elections are more stringent in the past few years. Every precaution is taken to insure honesty of elections.
No officer of election shall do any electioneering on election day.
In all elections in Kentucky the voting shall be by ballot.
The ballot boxes are opened and inspected before voting begins to see that they are empty.
Electioneering is forbidden within one hundred feet of the polls.
Twice as many official ballots are provided for every polling place as there are registered voters in the district.
If a person is illiterate he is allowed assistance in marking his ballot.
An inspector may challenge a person's vote, but if they swear they are eligible their vote is recorded and marked challenged.
A person cannot vote who is not naturalized for at least ninety days before election. Also a person convicted of bribery or an infamous crime, a deserter from the army or navy, and one who bets on that election cannot vote.
The Governor of the State may restore one to citizenship so that they can vote.
In registration polls are opened from 6 a. m. to 9 p. m., but in election polls are opened from 6 a. m. to 4 p. m.
When the polls are closed the ballots are counted by the election officers and announced and placed in ballot box, which is locked by officers, who then take the ballot box, poll books, certificates, etc., to the county clerk who unlocks the box in the presence of the election officers to see if the packages containing the ballots are properly sealed, and if so, the county clerk issues his receipt for the box and ballots—one to the judge, and one to the sheriff.
The county clerk within a certain time sends the ballots to a canvassing board which examines them and makes an official announcement of the number of votes cast for each candidate, and gives them a certificate of their election. The successful candidates are notified and later installed into office.