"You do swear (or affirm) that you have not been convicted of bribery or any infamous crime, or if so convicted, that you have been pardoned and restored to all the rights of a citizen." If any person shall refuse to take either oath so tendered his vote shall be rejected, but if he shall take the oath or oaths tendered him, his vote shall be accepted. Subdivision 3. Record of persons challenged. The inspectors of election shall keep a minute of their proceedings in respect to the challenging and administering oaths to persons offering to vote, in which shall be entered, by one of them, the name of every person who shall be challenged or take either of such oaths, specifying in each case whether the preliminary oath or the general oath, or both were taken. At the close of the election, the inspectors shall add to such minutes a certificate to the effect that the same are all such minutes as to all persons challenged at such election in such district. § 109. Time allowed employes to vote.--Any person entitled to vote at a general election held within this state, shall on the day of such election, be entitled to absent himself from any service or employment in which he is then engaged or employed, for a period of two hours, while the polls of such election are open. If such elector shall notify his employer before the day of such election of such intended absence, and if thereupon two successive hours for such absence shall be designated by the employer, and such absence shall be during such designated hours, or if the employer upon the day of such notice, makes no designation, and such absence shall be during any two consecutive hours while such polls are open, no deduction shall be made from the usual salary or wages of such elector, and no other penalty shall be imposed upon him by his employer by reason of such absence. This section shall be deemed to include all employes of municipalities. § 110. Canvass of votes. - Subdivision 1. Preparation for canvass. As soon as the polls of an election are closed, the inspectors of election thereat shall publicly canvass and ascertain the votes, and not adjourn or postpone the canvass until it shall be fully completed. Any election officer who shall sign any original statement of canvass, or certified copies thereof, at any place other than the polling place, or at any time other than immediately after the canvass is completed, and any election officer or person who shall take from the polling place any such statement before it shall have been signed as herein provided, is guilty of a felony, and shall be punished, upon conviction thereof, by imprisonment in a state prison for not less than two nor more than five years. The room in which such canvass is made shall be clearly lighted, and such canvass shall be made in plain view of the public. It shall not be lawful for any persen or persons, during the canvass, to close or cause to be closed, the main entrance to the room in which such canvass is conducted in such manner as to prevent ingress or egress thereby. When two ballot boxes are provided for the reception of two different kind of ballots voted, the said ballot boxes shall be opened and the ballots therein canvassed in the following order, namely: First, the box containing the general ballots; secondly, the box containing the ballots cast upon any constitutional amendment or other proposition or question. The board of inspectors shall commence the canvass by comparing the two poll books with the registers used on election day, correcting any mistakes therein, and by counting the ballots found in the ballot boxes without unfolding them, except so far as to ascertain that each ballot is single, and by comparing the ballots found in each box with the number shown by the poll books to have been deposited therein. If the ballots found in any box shall be more than the number of ballots so shown to have been deposited therein, such ballots shall all be replaced without being unfolded in the box from which they were taken, and shall be thoroughly mingled therein, and one of the inspectors designated by the board shall, without seeing the same and with his back to the box, publicly draw out as many ballots as shall be equal to sach excess and without unfolding them, forthwith destroy them. If two or more ballots shall be found in the ballot box so folded together as to present the appearance of a single ballot, they shall be destroyed if the whole number of ballots in such ballot box exceeds the whole number of ballots shown by the poll books to have been deposited therein, and not otherwise. If there lawfully be more than one ballot box for the reception of ballots voted at any one polling place, no ballot properly indorsed, found in the wrong ballot box, shall be rejected, but shall be counted in the same manner as if found in the proper ballot box, if such ballot shall not, together with the ballots found in the proper ballot box, make a total of more ballots than are shown by the poll books to have been deposited in the proper box. No ballot that has not the official indorsement shall be counted, except such as are voted in accordance with the provisions of the election law relating to unofficial ballots. The chairman only of the board of inspectors shall unfold the ballots taken from the ballot box. Inspectors of election have no power to decide as to the right of a person to vote in conformity to their own knowledge and belief, in disregard of the sworn statement of the person offering to vote. People ex rel. Stapleton v. Bell, 54 Hun, 567. Their knowledge or belief that illegal votes have been received is no justification for a refusal to sign the returns. Id. If they refuse to sign, they may be compelled by mandamus to do so. Id. Ballots accepted and deposited by some of the inspectors against the protests of others are received and must be returned. Id. Inspectors of election, who have made and signed a statement of the result of election and filed it in the county clerk's office, have not the authority to subsequently change such determination and statement by delivering a different one to the supervisor for presentation to the board of county canvassers. People ex rei. Russell v. Board, etc., 46 Hun, 390. The returns will not be sent back to the inspectors for the correction of an irregularity which is not shown to have been prejudicial to the candidate. People v. Board, etc., 58 How. 141. Nor, where it is alleged, that there has been a false and fraudulent alteration of the returns. Id. This question can only be tried in a contest before the proper tribunal. Id. Where it is apparent that a mistake has, in fact, been made in the returns, they may be sent back to the inspectors for correction. People v. Canvassers, 64 How. 201; 12 Abb. N. C. 95; People v. Payne, 64 How. 357; 12 Abb. N. C. 103. These officers are not functus officio, until a proper return has been made. Id. The inspectors' return is prima facie evidence of the number of votes cast for a candidate. People v. Minck, 21 N. Y. 539. See note under sections 131, 132. Subdivision 2. Intent of electors. - No. 1. If the elector marks more names than there are persons to be elected to an office, or if for any reason it is impossible to determine the elector's choice for an office to be filled, his vote shall not be counted for such office, but shall be returned as a blank vote for such office. No. 2. If the elector shall have made a cross X mark in the circle at the head of a party ticket and before the names of individual candidates on the same ticket only, the voting marks in the voting spaces before the names of such candidates on such ticket shall be treated as surplusage, and his vote shall be counted for all the candidates on such ticket so marked in the circle. No. 3. If the elector shall have made a cross X mark in the circle above the name of the party, some of whose candidates he desired to vote for, and he shall also have placed a cross X mark before the name of any candidate of any other party for any office, the cross X mark in the circle above the name of the party ticket must be deemed to have cast the elector's vote for every candidate on the ticket of such party so marked except for the candidate or candidates for the offices which are individually marked on other tickets, and the candidate or candidates so individually marked on such other ticket or tickets shall be deemed the choice of the voter for such office or offices; provided, however, that, No. 4. Where two or more persons are to be voted for in any election district for the same office, as two or more justices of the supreme court, or presidential electors, and the names of the several candidates therefor are printed on any party ticket under the title of the office for which all are running, and the elector shall have made a voting mark in the circle at the head of the party ticket, and shall also have made a voting mark before one or more of the group of candidates for such office on one other ticket only, he shall be deemed to have cast his vote for all the candidates for such office on the party ticket so marked in the circle, except for such candidates of such party whose names are upon the same lines as the names of the candidates upon the other ticket so individually marked, and his vote shall be counted for the candidates of such party which he has so individually marked, unless in addition to marking the ticket in the circle at its head, he shall also have made a cross X mark before each one of the group of candidates for such office for whom. he desires to vote on the ticket thus marked in the circle; and provided, further, No. 5. That where two or more persons are to be voted for in any election district for the same office, as presidential electors or justices of the supreme court, and the names of the several candidates therefor are printed on any party ticket under the title of the office for which all are running and the elector shall have made a voting mark in the circle at the head of the party ticket, and shall also have made a voting mark before the names of candidates for such office for which all are running, upon more than one other party ticket, he must also indicate by voting marks on the ticket so marked in the circle the individual candidates of the group of candidates so running upon such ticket for such office for whom he desires to vote, but if he has not, his vote shall only be counted for the candidates for such office which are individually marked. No. 6. If the elector shall have marked a cross X mark in more than one circle at the head of the party tickets and if on either of such tickets there shall be one or more candidates for office for which no other candidate or candidates is or are named on such other ticket or tickets so marked in the circle his vote shall be counted for such candidate or candidates. Subdivision 3. Method of counting.- The method of counting shall be as follows: The straight ballots, that is, the ballots on which all the candidates on one party ticket and no others are voted for shall be separated from the split ballots and counted, and the number of straight party votes for each candidate shall be entered in gross opposite his name on each tally sheet by each poll clerk. The chairman of the board shall then take the split ballots separately, and announce the vote for each candidate on each such ballot, in the order of the offices printed thereon, and each poll clerk shall make an accurate tally of the same. As the votes on each split ballot are counted, such ballot shall be passed to the other inspectors for verification. The poll clerks shall then add together all the votes for each candidate and the ballots wholly blank and void, together with the ballots on which no votes were counted for any candidate for such office, and shall enter the sum thereof in the proper column on the tally sheet. As soon as the count is completed for each office, the poll clerks shall submit the result to the inspectors for examination, and if found to be correct, the chairman shall at once announce the result. When a ballot is not void and an inspector of election or other election officer or duly authorized watcher shall, during the canvass of the vote, declare his belief that any particular ballot has been written upon or marked in any way for the purpose of identification, the inspectors shall write on the back of such ballot the words "objected to because marked for identification," and shall specify over their signatures upon the back thereof the mark or marking upon such ballot to which objection is made. The votes upon each such ballot shall be counted by them, as if not so objected to. If requested by any watcher the inspectors shall, during the canvass, exhibit any and all ballots cast at such election or town meeting to such watcher, fully opened, and in such a condition that he may fully and carefully read and examine the same, but such inspector shall not allow any such ballot to be taken from his hand. Any person who shall place upon any ballot taken from the ballot box any mark or marking, or who shall tear or deface any such ballot with the intent of causing such ballot to be rejected as void, shall be guilty of a felony, and shall be punished upon conviction therefor by imprisonment in a state prison for a period not less than five nor more than ten years. In cities of the first class the chairman of the board of inspectors shall, forthwith upon the completion of the count of votes for each |