1042 ELECTIONS. [ART. 33

1896, ch. 22, sec. 57.

62. 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 election, 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 cer-
tificate signed by the candidates or by the presiding officer
of the chief managing committee of their party in the city or
county shall be sufficient evidence of the right of such challen-
ger 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 chal-
lenger or watcher vouched for by the persons present belong-
ing 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 men-
tioned 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 any such challenger
to inquire or ascertain for what candidate or candidates any
voter may intend to vote or has voted, or to confer in the poll-
ing-room with any voter or to assist him in the preparation of
his ballot, and any challenger offering or attempting to do so
may lawfully be ejected by the judges and shall also be subject
to the punishment hereinafter provided. A challenger or
watcher may be removed at any time by the same person or
committee or by the chairman of the committee which appointed
him. Citizens other than accredited challengers or watchers
who desire to challenge the vote of any person then inside the
polling-room shall be permitted to enter said room for that
purpose, but a majority of the judges may limit the number of
persons to be allowed in the polling-room at any one time for
such purpose, and all such persons shall leave the polling-room
as soon as the right to vote of the person challenged by them
shall have been decided.