ART. 33] ELECTIONS. 255

case of absolute necessity, any judge or clerk in attendance shall
be compelled to absent himself, he shall appoint some fit person
of the same political party with himself to act in his stead until
his return, having first administered to such substitute the same
oath as he himself has taken. Blank forms for the appointment
of substitute judges and clerks and of the oath aforesaid shall be
supplied by the supervisors, and the oath, when administered, shall
be preserved and returned by the judges to the supervisors. The
appointment and swearing in of all such substitutes, and the
reason therefor, and the time when such substitutes began and
ceased to serve, shall be noted by the judges in the poll-book of
the precinct; such substitute shall cease to act whenever the
judge or clerk in whose stead he was appointed shall be present.

1896, ch. 202.

57. Each political party or other body of voters having a
candidate or candidates duly nominated, shall have the right to
designate and keep a challenger and watcher at each place of
registration and election, who shall be assigned to such positions
near the judges of elections, inside the registration or polling
room as to enable them to see each person as he offers to register
or vote, and they shall be protected in the discharge of their duty
by the judges of election and the police. A certificate, signed
by the candidates or by the presiding officer of the chief manag-
ing committee of their party in the city or county, shall be
sufficient evidence of the right of such challenger and watcher
to be present in the registration or polling room. In case any
challenger or watcher does not produce such certificate, the judges
of election shall recognize a challenger or watcher vouched for
by the persons present belonging to such political party, or
by the judge representing such party. Such challenger and
watcher shall have the right to remain in the polling room,
outside the rail hereinafter mentioned, from the time the polls
are opened until they are closed, and after that time he shall
be permitted to remain within the rail until the returns are
completed. The refusal to permit any such challenger so to
remain shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding
one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year,
or by both fine and imprisonment; but it shall be unlawful for