and place as shall have been named in said posted notices; and they shall have the same power as county boards of equalization to make any change in said assessment roll.

Section 12. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act be and the same are hereby repealed.

Section 13. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved March 8, 1897.

SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE BILL NO. 56.

An Act to amend Sections 1770 and 1782 inclusive of Article 4, Chapter 6, Title 3, Part 3 Political Code, relating to the election of school trustees and to amend said Article by adding thereto six additional sections with reference to the election of school trustees, providing for registration in certain districts and a compensation for school trustees in certain districts, and repealing all Acts and parts of Acts in conflict herewith.

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Montana:

Section 1. That Section 1770, Article 4, Chapter 6, Part 3, Title 3, Political Code be amended so as to read as follows:

Section 1770. An annual election for the election of school trustee or trustees shall be held in each school district in the State on the first Saturday in April in each year, at the district school house if there be one, and if there be none, at a place designated by the Board of Trustees or the Board of County Commissioners, as the case may be. All districts having a population of twelve thousand or more are, and hereafter shall be districts of the first class. All districts having a population of one thousand and less than ten thousand are and hereafter shall be districts of the second class, and all districts having a population of less than one thousand are and hereafter shall be districts of the third class. In districts of the first and second classes, the number of trustees shall be seven (7) and in districts of the third class, the number of trustees shall be three (3).

In school districts of the first class, any trustee at the time of the

pass

age of this act, save those who are serving by appointment to fill vacancies, shall continue so to hold for the term of three years, from the third Saturday in the month of April of the year in which they were elected, and those filling vacancies until the third Saturday in April 1897, and at all subsequent elections, one or more trustees, as the case may be, must be elected. In new districts, the school trustees must be elected for one, two and three years respectively.

Section 2. That Section 1771, of Article 4, Chapter 6, Part 3, Title 3, Political Code be amended to read as follows:

Section 1771. In districts of the first class the election shall be under the supervision of the Board of County Commissioners of the county in which the same are situated, and shall be held and conducted as hereinafter provided.

Section 3. That Section 1772, Article 4, Chapter 6, Part 3, Title 3, Political Code be amended to read as follows:

Section 1772. In districts of the second and third classes, the election of school trustees shall be held and conducted under the supervision of the Board of School Trustees, the clerk of the school district must, not less than fifteen days before the election required under this act, post notices in three public places in said district and in incorporated cities, in each ward, which notices must specify the time and place of election, and the hours during which the polls will be open. The trustees must appoint by an order entered on their records, three qualified electors of said district to act as judges at such election and the clerk of the district shall notify them by mail of their appointment. Said judges shall appoint one of their number to act as clerk at such election. If the judges named are not present at the time for opening the polls, the electors present may appoint judges and the judges so appointed shall designate one of their number to act as clerk.

Section 4. That Section 1773, of Article 4, Chapter 6, Part 3, Title 3, Political Code be amended to read as follows:

Section 1773. In districts of the first class the board of county commissioners of the county shall, at least fifteen days before the election for the year 1897, and thereafter not less than thirty days before the day. of the annual election of trustees, by an order entered upon the minutes of their meeting, designate and establish not less than two nor more than five polling places in such district, and create an equal number of election precincts to correspond and define the boundaries thereof..

Section 5. That Section 1774 of Article 4, Chapter 6, Part 3, Title 3, Political Code be amended to read as follows:

Section 1774. The board of County Commissioners shall, at least ten days before the day of annual election for trustees in any district of the first class, appoint three qualified electors of the district for each polling place established, to act as judges of election, and the County Clerk shall notify such persons by mail of their appointment. Such judges shall designate one of their number to act as clerk at such election. If the judges appointed or any of them are not present at the time for the opening of the polls, the electors present may appoint judges, who must be qualified electors to act in the place of those who are absent. The County Clerk shall, at least fifteen days before the election required to be held under this Act, in districts of the first class, give notice of the election to be held in all said districts, by posting a notice thereof in three public places in the district, and in incorporated cities and towns in each ward, which notices must specify the time and place of election, the number of trustees to be elected, and the hours during which the polls will be open.

Section 6. That Section 1775 of Article 4, Chapter 6, Part 3, Title 3, Political Code be amended to read as follows:

Section 1775. In districts of the first class the polls must be opened at eight o'clock A. M. and kept open until twelve o'clock M. and from one o'clock P. M. until eight o'clock P. M. In districts of the second and third classes the polls may be opened for such length of time as the board of trustees may order: Provided that, such polls must be kept open from two o'clock P. M. to six o'clock P. M.

Section 7. That Section 1776 of Article 4, Chapter 6, Part 3, Title 3, Political Code be amended to read as follows:

Section 1776. Whenever in the judgment of the board of county commissioners the best interests of the district will be served by the publication of such notices of election in some newspaper in the county, they may, by an order entered on the minutes of their meeting, direct the County Clerk to publish the notice of election required to be given in districts of the first class in some newspaper in the county.

Section 8. That Section 1777 of Article 4, Chapter 6, Part 3, Title 3, Political Code be amended to read as follows:

Section 1777. Every citizen of the United States who has resided in the State of Montana for one year, and thirty days in the school district

next preceding the election, may vote thereat. Women of the age of twenty-one years and upwards who are citizens of the United States, and who have resided in the State of Montana one year, and in the school district for thirty days next preceding the day of election, may vote thereat: Provided however that before any such person shall be entitled to vote in any district of the first class, he or she shall have registered as in this Act hereinafter required.

Section 9. That Section 1778 of Article 4, Chapter 6, Part 3, Title 3, Political Code, be amended to read as follows:

Section 1778. The voting must be by ballot, without reference to the general election laws in regard to nominations, form of ballot, or manner of voting in districts of the second and third classes. But in districts of the first class the ballot shall show the name or names of the candidates and the length of time for which they are to be elected. These ballots shall be as near as possible in the following form.

FOR SCHOOL TRUSTEES.

For three (3) year term

VOTE FOR THREE.

JOHN ABNER

WILLIAM BROWN

ADAM SMITH

For one (1) year term.

VOTE FOR ONE.

GEORGE DAVIS

In districts of the first class no person shall be voted for or elected as trustees, unless he or she has been nominated therefor by a bona fide public meeting held in the district at least ten days before the day of election, and at which at least twenty qualified electors were present, and a chairman and a secretary were elected, and a certificate of such nomination setting forth the place where the meeting was held, giving the names of the candidates in full, and if there are different terms to be filled, the term for which such candidate was nominated, duly certified by the chairman

and secretary of such meeting, shall be filed with the county clerk at least eight days before the day of election. The nomination and election of any person shall be void, unless he or she was nominated at a meeting as above provided at which at least twenty qualified electors were present, and his or her nomination certified and filed as aforesaid, and the county commissioners shall not count any votes cast for any person, unless he or she has been so nominated and a certificate thereof filed as herein required. The county commissioners shall cause to be printed ballots of the form aforesaid, on which shall appear the names of all persons who were regularily nominated and whose certificate of nomination was properly filed as aforesaid. In district of the first class the person desiring to vote shall, at the time he or she presents his or her ballot, announce his or her name, and the judges of election if they find such name on the official check list, or if not and he or she takes the oath herein prescribed, one of the judges. shall take the ballot and deposit it in the ballot box, and the clerk shall immediately write the name of such person on the poll list and one of the judges shall write opposite the said name on the official check lists the word "voted." Any person voting at such election who is not entitled to vote, and any person voting more than once thereat, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished accordingly; and any person taking a false oath, shall be guilty of perjury. No person shall be entitled to vote at any election for school trustees in any district of the first class, unless his or her name shall, on the day of election, appear on the official check list furnished by the county clerk to the judges of election: Provided, however, that if any person, otherwise qualified to vote, makes oath before one of the judges that he or she registered at any registry precinct in such district, naming it, before a registry agent giving his name, to vote at said election, and that his or her name does not appear correctly on said check list, or has been omitted therefrom, or that by reason of absence or sickness during the period of registration he or she was unable to register, the judges of election shall make an entry opposite his or her name on the poll list to the effect that he or she was sworn and voted, and shall permit him or her to vote. The county commissioners shall provide for each election of trustees double as many ballots as there are voters registered within such district. No other ballot than that provided by the county commissioners shall be received by the judges, and in districts of the first class, where a daily paper is issued, the commissioners shall cause to be published in at least one paper for three days preceding the election, such official ballot, and in such districts where there is no daily paper,