WORCESTER COUNTY. 5171

this section. The said judges before entering upon the discharge of their
duties shall take and subscribe before the Mayor of said town or before
a Justice of the Peace of said State in and for said County an oath or
affirmation to act fairly and impartially as judges of such election, and
in case of the failure of any of said persons so appointed to appear and
qualify the judge or judges so appearing shall select a judge or judges to
fill such vacancy, which such judge or judges shall qualify as above. They
shall appoint one of their number to act as clerk, and shall keep the polls

open from two o'clock P. M. to six o'clock P. M., and shall within two
days after the election return under their hands the number of votes cast
and for whom cast, with a copy of their oath, to the Clerk of the Circuit
Court for Worcester County, who shall file and record the same at once,
and issue certificates of election to the person who shall appear by the said
returns to have been elected to their respective offices, and said certificate
shall be recorded among the proceedings of the Council. If any clerk of
election or any person performing the duties of such clerk, shall wilfully
keep a false poll list or shall knowingly insert in his poll list any false
statement, he shall, upon conviction thereof, be adjudged guilty of a fel-
ony, and shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not
less than one nor more than five years. Every judge of such election who
shall wilfully exclude any vote duly tendered, knowing that the person

offering the same is lawfully entitled to vote at such election, or shall
wilfully receive a vote from any person who has been duly challenged in
relation to his right to vote at such election, without exacting from such
person an oath or other proof of qualification, or shall wilfully omit to
challenge any person offering to vote whom he knows or suspects to be not
entitled to vote, and who has not been challenged, shall, upon conviction
thereof, be punished by imprisonment in jail or in the penitentiary for
not less than three months nor more than two years. Every judge or
judges acting as clerk of any such election who shall make, sign, publish
or deliver any false tally or return of an election, or any false statement
of the result of an election, knowing the same to be false, or who shall
wilfully deface, destroy or conceal any statement, tally or certificate of
return entrusted to his care and custody, shall on conviction thereof, be
adjudged guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the
penitentiary for not less than one year nor more than ten years. If any
judge or judges acting as clerk of said election of whom any duty is
required by this Act, shall be guilty of any wilful neglect of such duty,
or any corrupt or fraudulent conduct or practice in the execution of the
same, he shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by imprisonment in
jail for not less than thirty days nor more than three years, or by a fine
of not less than fifty dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or both
by such fine and imprisonment- The judges of said election while acting
in the discharge of their duties as such judges are hereby clothed with
authority to preserve the peace, and to pass such orders as may be neces-
sary to carry out that object, and if any person shall wilfully disobey any
lawful command of any judge of election in the execution of his or their