CHAPTER 29.
OF THE ELECTION OF ASSESSORS AND INSPECTORS.
AN ACT in relation to the Election of Assessors and Inspectors.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
SECTION 1. That hereafter the election of assessors for the several hundreds in the respective counties of this State, and assessors for the assessment districts in Wilmington hundred, and the election of inspectors of the several hundreds and election districts in this State; shall be held by ballot biennially in the hundreds and election districts aforesaid, on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, at the same time and in the same places as are now by law appointed for holding the general election, and the said assessors and inspectors shall be voted for upon the same ballots voted for other officers elected at the general election aforesaid.
SECTION 2. Immediately upon closing the election aforesaid and ascertaining the state of the vote, the inspector and judges of the election in the several hundreds aforesaid, shall make and sign four certificates of the persons elected as assessor and inspector for said hundred, and shall cause the same to be transmitted without delay, to wit: one to the assessor elected, one to the inspector elected, one to the Clerk of the Peace of the county, to be laid before the Levy Court, and one to the Sheriff of the county. Said certificates shall be of the following form, viz:
- COUNTY, SS.
At an election held in _______ hundred, on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and _____ ______ was duly elected Assessor, and _______ was duly elected Inspector.
In testimony whereof we, the judges of said election, who were in due manner sworn or affirmed before opening said election, have hereunto set our hands the day and year aforesaid.
The person having the highest number of votes for said offices, respectively, shall be chosen; but if two or more persons shall have an equal and at the same time the highest number of votes for either of said offices the inspector shall give an additional casting vote.
SECTION 3. If the hundred in which said election is held is divided into two or more election districts, the inspector and judges of the election in each of said districts shall make and sign certificates according to Section 2 of this act, varying from the form therein prescribed for that purpose by omitting the assessor, and in lieu of including the election of assessor in such certificate they shall make and sign a certificate of the number of votes given for each candidate voted for as assessor.
SECTION 4. The inspector and judges of each election district, where said hundred is divided into two or more election districts, shall assemble on the day next succeeding said general election, at 12 o'clock, M., at the place of voting in said hundred as now by law required for the place of assembling of the presiding officers and judges of the election heretofore held on the first Tuesday of 0ctober respectively, and shall .ascertain the aggregate number of votes given in all the districts of said hundred for each person voted for, for assessor. The candidate having the highest number of votes shall be declared duly elected assessor. If two candidates for said office shall have the highest and an equal number of votes an additional casting vote shall be given by the inspector of that election district in said hundred as now by law given to the presiding officer of said district of the election heretofore held on the first Tuesday in October for the election of assessors and inspectors. Provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to Wilmington hundred.
SECTION 5. The inspectors and judges of the several election districts of Wilmington hundred, immediately after making the certificates required by Section 3 of this act, shall assemble in the City Hall, and the inspectors and judges of the election districts comprised within the first assessment district as laid out and established by the act entitled "An act providing for the election of three assessors for Wilmington hundred," passed April 6; 1883, shall ascertain the number of votes given for assessor in the said election districts so comprised as aforesaid; and the candidate having the highest number of votes shall be declared assessor of the said first assessment district. And the said inspectors and judges last aforesaid shall make, sign and deliver certificates of said election in the manner prescribed by this act for certifying the election of the assessors of the several hundreds; and the inspectors and judges of the election districts comprised within the second assessment district as laid out and established by the act aforesaid, shall ascertain the number of votes given for assessor in the different election districts so comprised as aforesaid, and the candidate having the highest number of votes shall be declared elected assessor of the second assessment district, and the inspectors and judges last aforesaid shall make, sign and deliver certificates of said election in the manner prescribed as aforesaid; and the inspectors and judges of the election districts comprised within the third assessment district as laid out and established by the act aforesaid, shall ascertain the number of votes given for assessor in the different election districts so comprised as aforesaid, and the candidate having the highest number of votes shall be declared assessor of the said third assessment district ; and the inspectors and judges last aforesaid shall make, sign and deliver certificates of said election in the manner prescribed as aforesaid. If two candidates for the office of either of the assessment districts aforesaid shall receive the highest and at the same time an equal number of votes, the inspectors of the election districts comprised within the assessment district in which the same shall happen shall agree upon and give a casting vote.
SECTION 6. The duties of the assessors and inspectors elected under the provisions of this act shall be the same as those prescribed by law for the assessors and inspectors heretofore elected on the first Tuesday of 0ctober, and all laws applicable to assessors and inspectors heretofore elected under the provisions of Chapters 17 and 19 of the Revised Statutes of this State, and not inconsistent with this act, shall apply to assessors and inspectors of the several hundreds and assessment districts hereafter to be elected under the provisions of this act.
SECTION 7. For the purpose of carrying into effect the object and purposes of this act, the inspectors at the last general election in the several hundreds and election districts in this State shall be the inspectors in said several hundreds and election districts at the general or any special election to be held next succeeding the passage of this act; and in case of any vacancy among said inspectors by death, resignation, removal out of the hundred or election district, refusal to serve, or otherwise, or in case of any such vacancy among the inspectors to be hereafter elected as aforesaid, the Levy Court of the county in which such vacancy shall happen shall appoint some qualified voter of such district or hundred to be the inspector thereof, who shall have all the powers and perform all the duties given to and imposed upon inspectors of said election; and in case of such vacancy, it shall be the duty of the chairman of the Levy Court in the respective counties for the time being, and he is hereby authorized to call a special meeting of said Levy Court for the purpose of meeting of filling said vacancy; but if, from any cause, such vacancy exists at the time of holding said general election the provisions of Section 10, Chapter 18 of the Revised Code, 1874, shall apply as heretofore.
SECTION 8. The Levy Court of each county shall meet at the Court House in said county on the Tuesday next after the general election for the purpose of qualifying said assessors hereafter to be elected under, this act, and giving to them instructions and performing such other duties as are prescribed by the provisions of Section 8, Chapter 8 of the Revised Code, entitled "Of the Levy Court ;" and the said Levy Courts may, in case of necessity, appoint another day or other days for the appearance of the assessors, or any of them, to take their official oath and receive the instructions aforesaid.
SECTION 9. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act be and the same are hereby repealed.
Passed at Dover, April 13, 1883.