county, shall unite in a petition to the County Superintendents of their respective counties for the establishing and maintaining of a joint union high school district, it shall be the duty of said Superintendent, within twenty days after receiving said petition, to call an election in the district or districts in his county petitioning, for the purpose of determining the question, and appoint three qualified electors in each district petitioning, to conduct the election therein. Said election shall be called and conducted in all respects as specified in subdivision fourth of this section, and the result thereof shall be reported by the election officers in each district to the Superintendents of the counties in which the districts are situated, within five days subsequent to the holding of said election.

(2) If a majority of the votes cast in the districts shall, in the aggregate, be in favor of establishing a joint union high school, the County Superintendent in each county shall, within fifteen days after receiving the returns of the election, direct the Board of Trustees in the district, or districts, in his respective county, to call a meeting of the qualified electors, as provided in subdivision sixth of this section. At said meeting the qualified electors in each district shall select representatives, as provided in said subdivision. The representatives so chosen shall meet at a time and place, to be agreed upon among themselves, for the purpose of determining the location and name of the school.

(3) The Joint Union High School Board shall be composed as provided in subdivision eighth of this section; and their powers and duties shall be such as are specified in this section for Union High School Boards; provided, that the estimate provided for in subdivision fourteenth of this section shall be furnished to the authorities in each of the counties in which the districts uniting are situated; and provided further, that the portion of the amount to be raised in each district shall be in proportion to the taxable property therein, as shown by the last preceding assessment roll thereof.

(4) All the provisions relative to the levy and collection of the tax necessary to maintain the high school shall apply to the levy and collection of the tax for joint union high schools; provided, that the amount collected in each district shall be paid into the treasury of the county in which said district is located, to the credit of a fund to be known as the Joint Union High School Fund, and shall be paid out as provided in subdivision nineteenth of this section.

SEC. 2. Section sixteen hundred and seventy-one of the Political Code is hereby amended to read as follows:

1671. First-There may be established in any county in this State, one or more county high schools; provided, that at any general or special election held in said county after the passage of this Act, a majority of all the votes cast at such election, upon the proposition to establish a high school, shall be in favor of establishing and maintaining such county high school or schools at the expense of said county.

Second-The Board of Supervisors at any general election to be held in any county after the passage of this Act, upon the presentation of a petition signed by fifty or more qualified electors, taxpayers of said county, must submit the question of establishing and maintaining a county high school to the qualified electors thereof. The Board of Supervisors, if they deem it expedient, may order a special election for such purpose. Said election shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by law for conducting elections. The ballots at such election shall contain the words "For County High School," and the voter shall write or print thereafter on the ballot the word Yes," or the word "No."

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Third-If the majority of all the votes cast on the proposition to establish a county high school are in the affirmative, it shall be the duty of the Board of Supervisors, within thirty days after canvassing said vote, to locate the school in some suitable and convenient place in said county. The Board of Supervisors shall also estimate the cost of purchasing a suitable lot, erecting a building, and furnishing the same, for the accommodation of such school, together with the cost of conducting such school for the next twelve months; provided, that the High School Board may rent suitable rooms for the accommodation of the school. If rooms can be obtained in public school buildings in the place in which said school shall be located, such rooms shall be given the preference.

Fourth-When such estimate shall have been made, the Board of Supervisors shall thereupon proceed to levy a special tax upon all of the assessable property of the county, except as provided in subdivision twentieth of section one thousand six hundred and seventy of the Political Code, sufficient to raise the amount estimated as necessary for the purchasing of a lot, procuring plans and specifications, erecting a building, furnishing the same, fencing and ornamenting the grounds, and the cost of running said school for the following twelve (12) months. Said tax shall be computed, entered on the tax roll, and collected in the same manner as other taxes are computed, entered, and collected, and the amount so collected shall be deposited in the County Treasury, and be known and designated as the County High School Fund, and shall be drawn from the treasury as other moneys so appropriated are drawn. Fifth-When the Board of Supervisors shall have properly provided and completed the building, together with the necessary fencing of the lot so purchased, they shall cause the same to be deeded to the County Board of Education, who shall hold the same in trust for the county.

Sixth-It shall be the duty of the County Board of Education to furnish to the Board of Supervisors, annually, an estimate of the amount of money needed to pay all of the necessary expenses of running said school; to adopt the necessary text-books (the State series shall be used in grades and classes for which they are adapted); to adopt and enforce a course of study for said schools; to employ suitable teachers, janitors, and other employés, and discharge such employés when deemed advisable

by them, and to do any and all other things necessary to the proper conduct of the school. The course of study shall embrace a period not less than three years, and it shall be such as will prepare graduates therein for admission to the State University. Seventh-It shall be the duty of the Board of Supervisors to include in their annual tax levy an amount sufficient to maintain the county high school; and such amount, when collected and paid into the County Treasury, shall be known as the "County High School Fund," and may be drawn therefrom in the following manner, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of conducting said county high school: The County Board of Education shall draw their order on the County Superintendent of Schools, in the manner and form provided by law for school District Trustees drawing orders on their district school funds, and the County Superintendent shall draw his requisition on the Auditor, who shall draw his warrant on the County Treasurer in favor of the person or persons to whom the amount called for in such requisition is due. All orders, requisitions, and warrants drawn on the "County High School Fund," in all other respects, except as specified in this Act, shall be subject to the law governing school districts.

Eighth-In case the qualified electors of any county deem it expedient to establish and maintain more than one county high school, then such additional school or schools may be established and maintained in the manner prescribed in this Act for establishing and maintaining a county high school.

Ninth-All county high schools shall be open for the admission of graduates holding diplomas from the grammar schools of the county, and to all pupils of the county who can pass the examination for admission. The examination for admission shall be conducted by the County Board of Education and the Principal of the county high school.

Tenth-Nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to prevent the Principal of the high school from acting as Principal of the grammar school of the school district in which the high school is located, if so desired by the trustees of said school district.

Eleventh-All proceedings for the establishment of county and union high schools had prior to the passage and approval of this Act, are hereby validated and declared legal; and said high schools shall continue under the provisions of the law under which they were established, until the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five; thereafter they shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

CHAPTER CCXVI.

An Act entitled an Act to amend sections eleven hundred and forty-two, eleven hundred and ninety-two, eleven hundred and ninety-nine, twelve hundred and three, twelve hundred and four, twelve hundred and seven, twelve hundred and eight, and twelve hundred and fifty-eight of the Political Code, relating to elections.

[Approved March 28, 1895.]

The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Section eleven hundred and forty-two of the Political Code is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

1142. When an election is ordered, the Board of Supervisors, or other Board having charge and control of elections in each of the counties, and cities and counties, of the State, shall appoint for each precinct, from the electors thereof whose names appear upon the last assessment roll of said county, or city and county, two Inspectors, two Judges, and two Clerks, the Inspectors, Judges, and Clerks to be selected, respectively, from the several respective political parties which, respectively, cast five per cent of the entire vote of the State at the last preceding general election for Electors of President and Vice-President nominated by such political party, so that each such political party shall have at least one representative upon such Board; and the remaining officers upon such Board shall be apportioned as nearly as may be equally between the two political parties which, respectively, cast the highest and next highest number of votes for said Electors at said election. The Inspectors and Judges so appointed shall constitute a Board of Election for such precinct. Such Board of Election shall canvass the votes for such precinct, and must be present at the closing of the polls. The members of said Board shall relieve each other in the duties of canvassing the ballots, which may be conducted by at least half of the whole number; but the final certificate shall be signed by a majority of the whole. No person shall be eligible to act as an officer of election at any precinct who has been employed in any official capacity in the county, or city and county, in the State, within ninety days next preceding any election. No person shall be eligible to act as a member of any Election Board, or as a Clerk upon such Board, who cannot read and write the English language. Any person acting as a member of any Election Board, or as a Clerk upon such Board, who cannot read and write the English language, and any person who refuses to act upon such Board, or as a Clerk thereof, after proper notification of his appointment, who is otherwise eligible, unless good and sufficient cause for such refusal is shown, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be subject to a fine of five hundred dollars, and upon failure to pay said fine shall be imprisoned in

the county jail of such county, or city and county, for the period of one day for each one dollar of said fine.

SEC. 2. Section eleven hundred and ninety-two of the Political Code is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

1192. Certificates of nomination required to be filed with the Secretary of State shall be filed not more than sixty days and not less than forty days before the day fixed by law for the election of the persons in nomination, when the nomination is made by a convention, and not more than sixty days and not less than thirty days before the day of election, when the nomination is made by electors, as provided in section one thousand one hundred and eighty-eight of this Code. Certificates of nomination required to be filed with the County Clerks, or with the Clerk or Secretary of the legislative body of any city or town, shall be filed not more than fifty nor less than thirty days before the day of election, when the nomination is made by a convention, and not more than fifty days nor less than twenty days before the day of election, when the nomination is made by electors. Should a vacancy in the list of nominees of a convention occur, such vacancy may be filled by the convention, or if it has delegated to a committee the power to fill vacancies, such committee may, upon the occurring of such vacancy, proceed to fill the same; provided, that no nomination shall be made or certified at a period before the day of election less than the minimum number of days provided for filing certificates of nomination made under this Code. The Chairman and Secretary of the convention or of such committee shall thereupon make and file with the proper officer a certificate setting forth the cause of the vacancy, the name of the person nominated, the office for which he was nominated, the name of the person for whom the new nominee is to be substituted, the fact that the committee was authorized to fill vacancies, and such further information as is required to be given in an original certificate of nomination. When a certificate to fill any vacancy shall be filed with the Secretary of State, he shall, in certifying the nomination to the various County Clerks, insert the name of the person who has been thus nominated to fill a vacancy in the place of that of the original nominee. Any person whose name has been presented as a candidate, may, at least five days before the making of the publication of the nominations prescribed in this section, cause his name to be withdrawn from nomination, by filing with the Secretary of State and County Clerk his request therefor, in writing, signed by him and acknowledged before the County Clerk of the county in which he resides; and no name so withdrawn shall be printed on the ballot. Whenever any certificate of nomination is presented for filing to any officer authorized to file the same, such officer shall forthwith, upon receipt of the same and before filing, examine the same, and if there is any defect, omission, or reason why the same should not be filed, such officer shall then and there forthwith designate, in writing, the defect, omission, or reason why such certificate cannot be filed, and return the said certificate to the