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Section XVII-6: Procedure for removal of county seat.

  The towns herein named as county seats shall be and remain the
county seats of their respective counties until changed by vote
of the qualified electors of such county, in the following
manner:
  (a)  Upon a petition or petitions in writing, signed by
twenty-five per centum of the qualified electors of the county,
such per centum to be determined by the total vote cast in such
county for the head of the State ticket in the next preceding
general election, said petition or petitions being verified by an
affidavit showing that the petitioners are qualified electors of
said county, and such petition or petitions having been filed
with the Governor at any time after four months after the
admission of the State into the Union, the Governor shall within
thirty days issue his proclamation calling an election to be held
in such county not less than sixty nor more than seventy days
from the date of his proclamation.
  Such election shall be held under the provisions of the
election laws of the State, and upon such public notice of such
election as the Governor in his proclamation may direct; and the
Governor shall cause to be placed upon the tickets to be voted at
such election, only the names of such towns as may, more than
twenty days prior to such election, file with the Governor
verified petitions therefor, as above mentioned, signed by not
less than three hundred qualified electors of said county.
  (The word "town," as herein used, shall be construed to mean
town, city, or place.)
  (b)  Upon the holding of any such election the board of
canvassers shall certify and return said vote to the Governor,
who shall thereupon at once declare the result and cause the will
of the electors to be carried into effect:  Provided, That in all
elections for the removal of any of the county seats named in
this Constitution the following rules shall govern, until the
county seat is once located by vote of the people, but not later
than the first day of April, nineteen hundred and nine:  Provided
further, in case the necessary and proper petition for the
holding of an election for the removal of a county seat shall be
filed with the Governor, for over six months prior to the first
day of April, nineteen hundred and nine (1909), in accordance
with the foregoing provisions, and if such election or elections
are delayed or postponed on account of any injunction or legal
proceedings then the time limit provided in the subdivision of
this section, shall be extended the length of time that such
election or elections are delayed or postponed by such injunction
or legal proceedings.  If a majority of all the votes cast in the
county at such county seat election shall be in favor of any
town, such town shall thereafter be the county seat: Provided,
however, that where the county seat named in this Constitution is
within six miles of the geographical center of the county (said
geographical center to be determined by certificate from the
Secretary of State, and said distance to be determined by
measurement from said geographical center to the nearest
corporate limits of such county seat as they existed on the
twenty-first day of January, Nineteen Hundred and Seven), it
shall require sixty per centum of the total vote cast at such
election by the competing town to effect the removal of such
county seat, unless such competing town be more than one mile
nearer the geographical center of said county, in which event a
majority vote shall suffice; but, if more than two towns are
voted for and no town receive the requisite proportion of all the
votes cast, then all names of towns voted for on said ballot,
except the two receiving the greatest number of votes, shall be
dropped; and the Governor shall, in like time and manner, cause
to be called and held a second election, at which only the two
towns which received the greatest number of votes cast at the
first election shall be voted for; and the town receiving the
requisite proportion of the votes cast at the second election
shall be the county seat:  Provided, that, after the first day of
April, Nineteen Hundred and Nine, all county seats shall be
subject to removal under the above named provisions; but, the
town to which removal is sought must receive two-thirds of all
votes cast in such county at the election held therefor, and such
elections shall not occur at intervals of less than ten years:
Provided further, that until after the first day of April,
Nineteen Hundred and Nine, no public money shall be expended for
court house or jail construction unless a vote of the people of
such county shall have been taken on the relocation of the county
seat.

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