CHAPTER 161 An act to amend the charter of the city of Winston, North Carolina, The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 4. Strike out section eight and insert the following in lieu thereof: Said registrars shall be furnished by said board of aldermen with registration books, and it shall be the duty of said registrars to keep their books open from seven o'clock A. M. until sundown fifteen days preceding the second Saturday before the election on the first Monday in May, at such places in their respective wards as shall be public and convenient to the voters, and to register therein the names of all persons applying for registration and entitled to register and vote in the ward for which such registrar has been appointed, keeping the names of the white voters separate and apart from the colored voters. Any person offering to register shall be required to take the following oath or affirmation: that he is or will be twenty-one years of age on or before the day of election, and has been a resident of the state of North Carolina twelve months, of the county of Forsyth ninety days, and of the ward of the city of Winston thirty days preceding the election in which he proposes to vote, and has not been convieted of any crime which, by the laws of North Carolina, disqualifies him from voting. Said registrars shall keep their books open for the inspection of any elector, and any elector may challenge the right of any voter to cast his ballot by filing with the registrar an affidavit, setting forth his reasons for challenge, and said registrar shall mark challenge opposite the name of the person challenged, and shall at once summon all the parties interested to appear before the judges of election of his ward on Wednesday before the succeeding election, between the hours of nine A. M. and five oclock P. M., to determine such voter's right to cast his ballot. If the judges cannot agree the registrar may decide, and if such challenge be sustained the name must be erased from the book. That justice may be done, the registrar is empowered to summon any witnesses that may be material, and shall make known in the summons to the party challenged the TRUE cause for which he is challenged, and the burden of proof shall lie upon the party challenging to show that the party challenged is not entitled to vote. All challenges shall be made before the books close on the second Saturday at sundown preceding the election on the first Monday in May. The registrars shall give notice ten days before they open their books, naming the place and time of opening and closing the books; such notice shall be posted in six conspicuous places in each ward; the board of aldermen may order a new registration or revision of the books by giving thirty days notice of such new registration or revision before the day the registrars are appointed, and shall allow such compensation to the registrars for their services as they may see proper, and shall order a new registration of voters for the election to be held on the first Monday in May, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six. Any registrar who shall refuse to swear or hear any witness whose testimony is material in the determination of any voter's right of franchise, or shall abuse his trust as an officer, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, fined one hundred dollars, or imprisoned for sixty days. Any person who may become a qualified voter after the books close, and on or before the day of election, shall be allowed to register when he becomes so entitled.