CHAPTER 263 AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS FIVE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE AND SIX THOUSAND TWEN- TY-SEVEN OF THE CONSOLIDATED STATUTES OF NORTH CAROLINA SO AS TO REQUIRE A NEW STATE- WIDE REGISTRATION OF VOTERS. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 2. For each precinct the chairman shall have copied in a new registration book, to be known and labeled as The General Election Registration Book, the names only of all registered electors who are shown by the poll book to have voted in such precinct in either the one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six or the one thousand nine hundred and thirtyeight general election or the primary election, except electors who are known by the chairman to have died or moved their voting residence, and to record in said book opposite each name, information available with reference to the race, age, residence, place of birth and the township, county and state from whence he has removed, in the event of a removal. The party affiliation of the voters shall not be entered in this general election registration book. When this is completed, there shall be prepared for each precinct in duplicate a list of all the registered voters whose names were not transferred to the new general election registration book for the reason that such electors did not appear, according to the poll books, to have voted in either the general election or the primary election of one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six or one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight. The said Chairman of the County Board of Elections shall thereafter publish said lists once a week for at least two consecutive weeks in a county journal or in his discretion have said lists posted at the courthouse door of said county at least two weeks prior to the opening of the regular primary registration period notifying all persons on said lists that their names would be erased from the registration books unless such persons personally appeared before their respective registrars during the regular registration period and showed their right to remain on the registration book and vote as qualified electors in said precinct. In the event that either the one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six or one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight poll books for a precinct are lost and cannot be found then the chairman shall order a new registration of voters in such precinct before the primary election. In all counties having had a new countywide registration of voters, either in the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six or one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight, the said chairman in said county is authorized to transfer to the new registration books the names of all persons registered therein regardless of whether any of the persons so registered voted in either of said elections or primary elections of one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six or one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight, except that the chairman shall remove from the books the names of all persons known by the chairman to have died or moved their voting residence elsewhere since said registration was held: Provided, however, that if the registration books in those counties having had a new registration within the time above mentioned do not show the party affiliation of the voter together with the other required information then the chairman shall order a new registration therein. In instances where the party affiliation is shown part of the time and is not shown in some cases, then the procedure set forth in the third section of this Act shall be followed: Provided, further, that in those counties having had a new county-wide registration of voters either in the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six or one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight, which registration, revision and relisting of voters was performed in substantial compliance with the terms of this Act, in the opinion of the Chairman of the State Board of Elections the said chairman will not be required to comply with the terms and provisions of this Act.