NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1959 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1150

HOUSE BILL 1311

 

 

AN ACT AMENDING CHAPTER 235, PRIVATE LAWS OF 1905, RELATING TO MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN THE TOWN OF DUNN.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1. Chapter 235 of the Private Laws of 1905 is hereby amended by rewriting Sections 5 and 6 to read as follows:

"Sec. 5. Election of Mayor and Commissioners. (a) Chapter 750 of the Public Laws of 1901 shall not apply to the Town of Dunn.

"(b)      There shall at the regular municipal election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in May, 1961, and biennially thereafter, be elected from among the duly registered and qualified voters of the town a mayor and two commissioners, who shall hold their respective offices until their successors are duly elected and qualified, such election to be held and conducted under the direction of the Mayor and Board of Commissioners of the Town of Dunn. Provided, that at a meeting to be held on the first Monday of March of each year in which an election is to be held such mayor and board of commissioners shall make, and within one week thereafter publish by posting in four public places in said town, and otherwise as they may deem meet and proper, rules and regulations under which said municipal election and primary election are to be held; provided further that such rules and regulations when so made shall be spread upon the minutes of the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Dunn; provided further that if in any year no such rules and regulations are made, then such election shall be held and conducted under the rules and regulations governing the preceding election. In such regular municipal elections the candidate receiving the largest number of votes for mayor shall be declared the duly elected mayor for the ensuing term of two years, and the candidates receiving the largest number of votes for commissioner shall be declared the duly elected commissioners for the next ensuing term of four years.

"Sec. 6. Primary Election; Time, Candidates, Terms and Provisions. The municipal primary election, if one be required, for the nomination of candidates for the offices of mayor and commissioners shall be held on the third Tuesday after the first Monday in April, preceding the regular municipal election. Such primary shall be a nonpartisan primary and all residents of the Town who are registered and qualified to vote in the regular municipal election shall be qualified and eligible to vote in the primary election. All candidates to be voted for at regular municipal elections for mayor and commissioners shall be nominated in the municipal primary election under the following terms, provisions and conditions:

"(a)      Any person desiring to become a candidate for nomination for mayor or commissioner shall, at least ten days prior to the date of the primary election, file with the town clerk of the Town of Dunn a sworn statement of such candidacy, on a form approved and furnished by the said clerk showing the name, address, and length of residence in the Town of Dunn of the candidate, the office he seeks, and the request that his name be placed on the official ballot for nomination to such office. At the time such statement is filed the candidate filing same shall pay the said clerk a filing fee of five dollars ($5.00) to be turned over to the city treasurer.

"(b)      The two candidates receiving the highest number of votes for mayor and the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes for commissioner in each of said wards in the primary election, shall be the nominees for their respective offices whose names shall be placed upon the official ballot for such respective offices at the regular municipal election following.

"(c)      In the event there should be an equal number of votes for two or more persons for either the office of mayor or commissioner and such tie or ties must be resolved in order to determine the identity of the nominees for the respective offices in the municipal election, then the old board of commissioners shall, at an immediate call meeting, select two disinterested electors from each ward in the Town of Dunn, not in the employ of the town, such eight persons when so selected, together with the mayor and board of commissioners, to vote upon such tie or ties by written ballot, the two persons receiving the largest number of the thirteen votes so cast to be certified as the winner of said primary election.

"(d)      If there be two or less candidates to file for nomination for the office of mayor, then it shall not be necessary to hold a municipal primary for nomination of such office and the one or two candidates that file shall be certified by the town clerk as the nominee or nominees for mayor to be voted for in the ensuing regular municipal election.

"(e)      If there be two or less candidates to file for nomination for the office of commissioner in each of the two said wards, then it shall not be necessary to hold a municipal primary for such offices and all of the candidates that file shall be certified by the town clerk as nominee or nominees for commissioner to be voted for in the ensuing regular municipal election.

"(f)      All persons who are qualified under the laws of the State of North Carolina to vote for members of the General Assembly and shall have resided in the Town of Dunn for four months next preceding the regular municipal election and have duly registered, shall be qualified voters of said town in the primary election and in the regular municipal election."

Sec. 2. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 3. This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 18th day of June, 1959.