The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-03-02
AN ACT

No. ISL AN ACT
To amend and re-enaet sections 1419 and 1921 of
the Revised Statutes OF Louisiana, and to
Authorize candidates tor State offices to con-
test before the courts the election OF their
opponents.
SECTION 1. BE IL enacted bq The Senate and
House Of Representatives Of he State Of Louis
lana, IN General assembly convened, that
sections fourteen hundred and nineteen
and fourteen hundred and twenty-one be
and the same are hereby amended and re-
| enacted 60 as to read as follows: Any candidate
for either of the offices of Clerk Of the District
Court. Parish Recorder, sheriff, Coroner, Justice
OF the Peace and any other parish or district
officer that may claim to have been elected by
the people, intending to contest an election, SHALL
within thirty days after the official PRONUNCIATION
of the result of said election, file in the District
Court for the parish or In the district in which the
election may have been held, petition setting
forth the facts on which he intends to contest
the election, and every candidate for either
of the offices OF Seer, tary of State, Audi
tor Of Public Accounts, State Treasurer, At
torney General, or Superintendent OF Public
Eduestion, intending to contest election, shall,
within thirty days after the suit OF such election
shall have been promulgated according to law,
file in court Of com petent Jurisdiction In the
parish in which the capital Of the State is estab-
ishsd, petition setting forth the facts on which
he intends to contest the election, within thirty
days after the official PRONUNCIATION OF the result
Of the election; the party contesting shall present
to the court, and which shall be filed, a petition
signed by at least twenty voters Of the State dis
trict, parrish or in case of an election by ward or
other division Of the parish, then the voters sign
ing such petition shall be ten in number and be
residents of the ward for which the election has
been held, praying the court to examine the
facts and decide thereon. The signatures to
such petition shall be presumed to be genuine
until shown by proof to oe otherwise.
SEC. 2. Be at further enacted, etc., That suits
instituted under the foregoing section, contest
ing the election of State officer, shall be filed
and tried in ali respects as ordinary suits; except
that they shall be titled to trial by preference.
SEC. 3. Be 1t further enacted, ETC., That any
candidate who CLAIMS to have been elected prior
TO the passage Of this act to any State Office, the
term of whose Office has not yet expired, be and he
is hereby authorized to file petition setting
forth the facts on which he contests said election,
and the suit of such candidate shall BE- filed and
tried in conformity with the provisions of the
foregoing sectioas protided, that the petition be
FLED within thirty days after the passage OF this
act.
SEC. 4. Be it t,atte,. endcted, etc, That this
act shall take effect from and after it's passage,
and that all laws or parts Of laws conflicting with
its provisions are hereby repealed.
toignedl LOUIS BUSH,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
tSiguedl LOUIS A. WILT,
Lieutenant Governor and President OF the Senate.
Approved March /, 1877.
(Signedl FEANCIs 7. NICHOLS,
Governor of the State OF Louisiana.
A true copy:
Oscar ARROYO.
Assistant Secretary Of State.