An ACT prescribing on the part of this State, the times, places and manner of holding elections for Representatives in the Congress of the United States.

B

E it enacted by the honorable the Senate

and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in general assembly, and by the authority of the same, That this state shall be and is here - Election by declared to be divided into six districts, for districts. the purpose of electing representatives from this state to congress; of which Charleston district shall be one, Beaufort and Orangeburgh districts united, another; Georgetown and Cheraw districts united, another; Camden district, another; Ninety-six district, another; and Washington and Pinckney districts united, another; and each Each disof the said six districts shall send one represen- trict to tative from this state to the house of represen- represen tatives in the congress of the United States, tative to who shall be chosen by the persons qualified to vote for members of the house of representatives of this state.

send one

congress.

are to be

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the next election of represent: - When tives from this state to congress, shall be held elections on the first Monday of February next, and the held. day following, by the same managers, and at the same places, and be conducted in the same manner as the elections of members for the state legislature; and after the day last aforesaid, the said elections shall always be held at the same times and places, and be regulated and conducted by the same managers, and in the same manner as the elections of members for the state legislature; and the person who, at any of the said elections, shall have the greatest number of votes in the district of Charleston, and the person who shall have the greatest number of votes

Columbia,

in the united districts of Beaufort and Orange burgh, and the person who shall have the greatest number of votes in the united districts of Georgetown and Cheraw, and the person who shall have the greatest number of votes in Camden district, and the person who shall have the greatest number of votes in Ninety-six district, and the person who shall have the greatest number of votes in the united districts of Washing ton and Pinckney, shall be the six members fi om this state to the house of representatives in the congress of the United States.

And be it further enacted by the authority Ballots to aforesaid, That the managers in the several elecbe sent to tion districts throughout this state, shall, within directed to twenty days after any election, transmit the balthe gover- lots by them respectively taken, to Columbia; cretary of Safely and securely enclosed in paper, sealed with state. their seals, and directed to the governor or com

nor or se

mander in chief of the state, or to the secretary of this state, by a person by them to be employed particularly for that purpose, who, at the time of receiving the said packet, shall take an oath before some magistrate, "safely to convey and deliver such packet agreeably to the direction, sickness and unavoidable accidents excepted; and in case of sickness, that he will deliver the same in good order and the seals unbroken at the time of such delivery, to some other person to be conveyed to Columbia:" and the governor, or the secretary of the state (as the case may be) on the receipt of any such packet, shall cause to be administered to the person delivering the same, the following oath: "I, A. B. do solemnly swear, (or affirm, as the case may be,) that the paper or packet now delivered by me, with the contents, were placed in my hands by the managers of the election district of or by

(in case he hath received the same from the messenger first intrusted,) and that the said packet hath not been delivered out of my custody to any person since the same was delivered to me, nor hath such packet or paper been opened by me or by any other person by my knowledge or with my connivance or consent. So help me God." Which paper or packet so delivered, shall be received by the governor or secretary; and the several persons who shall be employed compenin conveying the said packets to Columba from sation to the several election districts in this state, shali be entitled to receive, and shall be paid three dollars per diem, for coming to and going from Columbia, allowing forty miles for each day's journey.

messen

gers.

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the governor or commander in Returns to chief for the time being, or in case of his sick- be opened. ness, death or absence, the lieutenant governor, on the first Monday in March next, for the first election to be held by virtue of this act, and on every first Monday in December next after each succeeding election, shall cause the said returns to be publicly opened, examined and counted in his presence, at Columbia, by three or more commissioners to be by him, and under his hand and seal, appointed for that purpose, and shall ascertain the number of votes given at the different elections for every person, and what six persons shall have respectively, the greatest number of the votes in the said several districts, and shall then deposit the original poll of each of the said six districts, in the office of the secreta

elections

ry of the state; and after having ascertained what Governor six persons have been elected, as before direct- to notify ed, he shall notify by proclamation, that those by procla persons have been duly elected members of the mation.

house of representatives in the congress of the United States. Provided always, That if both the governor and lieutenant governor shall be absent from Columbia, the secretary of the state, together with the three commissioners to be appointed as herein before mentioned, shall and may open and count the votes, and ascertain the six persons elected as aforesaid, and transmit the result thereof to the governor, or in case of his absence or death, to the lieutenant governor, to be notified by proclamation as aforesaid. Provided also, That the three commissioners to be appointed as aforesaid shall, in all cases, before they proceed to act in the premises, take an oath before some magistrate, "that they will faithfulcommis ly and impartially, and to the best of their skill, discharge the duties required of them by this

Oath of

sioners.

ver the

licly the day next

act."

And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, Managers That the managers of the said elections be, and to count o- they are hereby required, the next day after the votes pub- poll shall be closed, to count over in a public manner the ballots which shall be given in the after the respective election districts for the respective election. candidates or persons ballotted for, and the said managers shall keep an account in writing of the number of votes which each candidate shall have, and shall also transmit to the governor with the ballots, a duplicate of such account.

two dis

tricts, to

And be it further enacted by the authority Persons aforesaid, That in case the same person shall elected for be returned for two or more of the said districts, he may, within twenty days after due notice shall choose for be given him thereof, choose for which district he will serve, and on his making such choice, or neglecting so to do, within the said term, the governor or commander in chief shall direct another election to be held within twenty days there

which

they will

serve.

to order

new elec.

after, for the vacant district or districts, to be conducted and regulated in like manner as before prescribed; and the governor or comman- Governor der in chief shall proceed in the same manner, where the member elected in any of the said six tions for districts refuses to serve, or omits to signify to vacant dis the governor or commander in chief, within tricts, &c. twenty days after he has received due notice of his election, his intention of serving; and in case of the death of any person elected, or if his seat shall become vacated by any other means, or if two or more persons shall have equal votes for the same district, the governor or commander in chief shall order a new election, as the case may require, to be conducted, as nearly as may be, in the manner before prescribed.

In the Senate House, the twenty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and in the seventeenth year of the Independence of the United States of America,

DAVID RAMSAY,

President of the Senate.

JACOB READ,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

An ACT to ascertain the names by which the villages wherein the district courts are held in Pinckney and Washington districts, shall be known in law, and to provide uniform seals for the several district courts throughout the state, and to exempt the persons therein specified, from toll and ferriage.

WHE

HEREAS it is necessary that the places where the district courts are held in Pinckney and Washington districts should be known in law by certain names :