SECTION 1. A general election of all the officers of the corporation, required to be elected by this act, or any ordinance of the City, shall be held in the City on the second Tuesday of April, in each year, at such place as the City Council may appoint, and of which six days, public notice shall previously be given, by written or printed notices, in three (3) public places in the City, or by publication in the newspaper publishing the ordinances of the City, by the City Clerk.
SECTION 2. The manner of conducting and voting at the elections held under this act, and contesting the same, the keeping the poll lists, canvassing of the votes, and certifying the returns, shall be the same, as nearly as may be, as is now or may be hereafter provided by law at general state elections: Provided, the City Council shall have power to regulate elections and the appointment of judges thereof. The voting shall be by ballot, and the judges of election shall take the same oath and shall have the same powers and authority as the judges of general elections. After the closing of the polls, the ballots shall be counted in the manner provided by law, and the returns shall be returned, sealed, to the City Clerk, within three (3) days after the election; and thereupon the City Council shall meet and canvass the same, and declare the result of the election. The person having the highest number of votes for any office shall be declared elected, it shall be the duty of the City Clerk to notify all persons elected or appointed to office of their election or appointment; and unless such persons shall qualify within twenty (20) days thereafter, the office shall become vacant.
SECTION 3. No person shall be entitled to vote at any City or ward election who is not entitled to vote at state elections and has not been a resident of said City at least two (2) months next preceding said election. He shall have been, moreover, an actual resident of the ward in which he proposes to vote for ten (10) days previous to such election, and, if required by any judge or qualified voter, shall take the following oath, before he is permitted to vote: “I swear (or affirm) that I am of the age of twenty-one (21) years, that I am a citizen of the United States (or was a resident of this state at the time of the adoption of the constitution), and have been a resident of this state one year and a resident of this City two (2) months immediately preceding this election, and am now and have been for the last ten (10) days past a resident of this ward, and have not voted at this election,” provided, that the voter shall be deemed a resident of the ward in which he is accustomed to lodge.
SECTION 4. The persons entitled to vote at any election held under this act, shall not be arrested on civil process within said City, upon the day on which said election is held; and all persons illegally voting at any election held under this act, or the ordinances of the City in pursuance thereof, shall be punishable according to the laws of the state.