Sec. 7. Nomination of Elective Officers by Direct Vote. All nominations for elective state, district, county and municipal offices. shall be made at direct primary elections or by petition as provided by law, and provision shall be made by law for a preferential vote for United State senator; but direct primaries shall not be held for the nomination of township officers or for the officers of municipalities of less than two thousand population, unless petitioned for by a majority of the electors of such township or municipality. All delegates from this state to the national convention of political parties shall be chosen by direct vote of the electors. Each candidate for such delegate shall state his first and second choices for the presidency, which preferences shall be printed upon the primary ballot below the name of such candidate, but the name of no candidate for the presidency shall be so used without his written authority.

ARTICLE XVII.

Sec. 1. Times for Holding Elections. Elections for state and county officers shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in the even numbered years; and all elections for all other elective officers shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in the odd numbered years.

Sec. 2. Terms of Officers. The term of office of the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney-general, secretary of state and treasurer of state shall be two years, and that of the auditor of state shall be four years. The term of office of the judges of the supreme court and circuit court shall be such even number of years not less than six (6) years as may be prescribed by the general assembly; that of the judges of the common pleas court six (6) years and of the judges of the probate court, four (4) years, and that of other judges shall be such even number of years not exceeding six (6) years as may be prescribed by the General Assembly. The term of office of justices of the peace shall be such even number of years not exceeding four (4) years as may be so prescribed by the General Assembly. The term of office of the members of the board of public works shall be such even number of years not exceeding six (6) years as may be prescribed; and the term of office of all elective county, township, municipal and school officers shall be such even number of years not exceeding four (4) years as may be so prescribed.

And the general assembly shall have power to so extend existing terms of office as to effect the purpose of section 1 of this article.

Any vacancy which may occur in any elective state office other than that of a member of the general assembly or of governor, shall be filled by appointment by the governor until the disability is removed, or a successor elected and qualified. Every such vacancy shall be filled by election at the first general election for the office which is vacant, that occurs more than thirty (30) days after the vacancy shall have occurred. The person elected shall fill the office for the unexpired term. All vacancies in other elective offices shall be filled for the unexpired term in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 3. Officers When Amendment Adopted. Every elective officer holding office when this amendment is adopted, shall continue to hold such office for the full term for which he was elected, and until his successor shall be elected and qualified as provided by law.

ARTICLE XVIII.

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.

Sec. 1. Classification of Municipalities. Municipal corporations are hereby classified into cities and villages. All such corporations having a population of five thousand or over shall be cities; all others shall be villages. The method of transition from one class to the other shall be regulated by law. (Adopted Sept. 3, 1912.)

Sec. 2. Special Laws for Municipalities. General laws shall be passed to provide for the incorporation and government of cities and villages; and additional laws may also be passed for the government of municipalities adopting the same; but no such additional law shall become operative in any municipality until it shall have been submitted to the electors thereof, and affirmed by a majority of those voting thereon, under regulations to be established by law. (Adopted Sept. 3, 1912.)

Sec. 5. Public Utilities. Any municipality proceeding to acquire, construct, own, lease or operate a public utility, or to contract with any person or company therefor, shall act by ordinance and no such ordinance shall take effect until after thirty days from its passage. If within said thirty days a petition signed by ten per centum of the electors of the municipality shall be filed with the executive authority thereof demanding a referendum on such ordinance it shall not take effect until submitted to the electors and approved by a majority of those voting thereon. The submission of any such question shall be governed by all the provisions of section 8 of this article as to the submission of the question of choosing a charter commission. (Adopted Sept. 3, 1912.)

Sec. 7. Home Rule Charter. Any municipality may frame and adopt or amend a charter for its government and may, subject to the provisions of section 3 of this article, exercise thereunder all powers of local self-government. (Adopted Sept. 3, 1912.)

Sec. 8. Creation of Charter Commission. The legislative authority of any city or village may by a two-thirds vote of its members, and upon petition of ten per centum of the electors shall forthwith, provide by ordinance for the submission to the electors, of the question, "Shall a commission be chosen to frame a charter." The ordinance providing for the submission of such question shall require that it be submitted to the electors at the next regular municipal election if one shall occur not less than sixty days nor more than one hundred and twenty days after its passage; otherwise it shall provide

for the submission of the question at a special election to be called and held within the time aforesaid. The ballot containing such question shall bear no party designation, and provision shall be made thereon for the election from the municipality at large of fifteen electors who shall constitute a commission to frame a charter; provided that a majority of the electors voting on such question shall have voted in the affirmative. Any charter so framed shall be submitted to the electors of the municipality at an election to be held at a time fixed by the charter commission and within one year from the date of its election, provision for which shall be made by the legislative authority of the municipality in so far as not prescribed by general law. Not less than thirty days prior to such election the clerk of the municipality shall mail a copy of the proposed charter to each elector whose name appears upon the poll or registration books of the last regular or general election held therein. If such proposed charter is approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon it shall become the charter of such municipality at the time fixed therein. (Adopted Sept. 3, 1912.)

Sec. 9. Amendments to Charter. Amendments to any charter framed and adopted as herein provided may be submitted to the electors of a municipality by a two-thirds vote of the legislative authority thereof, and, upon petitions signed by ten per centum of the electors of the municipality setting forth any such proposed amendment, shall be submitted by such legislative authority. The submission of proposed amendments to the electors shall be governed by the requirements of section 8 as to the submission of the question of choosing a charter commission; and copies of proposed amendments shall be mailed to the electors as hereinbefore provided for copies of a proposed charter. If any such amendment is approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon, it shall become a part of the charter of the municipality. A copy of said charter or any amendment thereto shall be certified to the secretary of state, within thirty days after adoption by a referendum vote. (Adopted Sept. 3, 1912.)

1. The amendment to the home-rule charter of the city of Cleveland, adopted in the election of 1921, does not constitute a suspension of law, or the exercise of the legislative power of the state; nor does it constitute a legislative act, nor an enactment of law of a general nature. The amendment in question, therefore, does not violate section 18, article I, or section 1, article II, or section 26, article II, of the constitution of Ohio.

2. When, in accordance with the provisions of the home-rule amendment to the Ohio constitution, an amendment to a city charter is adopted, which amendment establishes a so-called city manager plan of government, together with the Hare System of Proportional Representation in voting, and enacts provisions as to the management of the sinking fund of the city and the election of officers, and authorizes certain acts not authorized to be done by municipalities under the General Code of the state, all of the said provisions relating solely to the establishment and maintenance of local self-government, the provisions of the General Code as to such matters do not apply. (Billings v. Cleveland Railway Co., 92 Ohio St., 478, and State ex rel. Hile v. Baker, 92 Ohio St., 506, approved and followed.)

3. The amendment to the home-rule charter of the city of Cleveland adopted in the election of 1921 does not violate section 1 of the 14th Amendmend to the Federal Constitution,

4. The amendment to the home-rule charter of the city of Cleveland adopted in the election of November, 1921, does not constitute the erection of a state within a state, and does not contravene section 3, article IV, of the Federal Constitution.

5. The adoption of the city manager plan of government, together with the Hare System of Proportional Representation, in a city charter, under the home-rule amendment to the Ohio constitution, is not a denial of the republican form of government, and does not contravene section 4, article IV, of the Federal Constitution. Adoption of such a form of government raises a political question, and not a judicial question, and cannot be challenged in the courts.

Hile v. City of Cleveland, 107 O. S. 144.

1. The power given by the Ohio constitution, section 9, article XVIII, to the electors of a city to amend their municipal charter, includes the power to repeal or strike out provisions.

2. Under section 9, article XVIII, of the Ohio constitution, empowering the electors of a city to amend their municipal charter, each section of a proposed amendment need not be submitted separately at an election. An amendment amounting to a general revision, having for its principal purpose to provide for the so-called city manager plan of government, together with a system of voting by the so-called Hare System of Proportional Representation, comprising numerous separate sections, may be voted upon as a whole.

3. In a proposed amendment to the home-rule charter of the city of Cleveland, all but two sections of the original charter were repealed. The amendment repeated verbatim 60 sections of the original charter, only the section numbers being changed, repeated 105 sections of the original charter with editorial revisions, and changed substantially 35 sections of the original charter. Held: That this proposal constituted an amendment, and not a new charter.

4. A proposed amendment, covering 67 printed pages and comprising 181 sections, was submitted to the voters of the city of Cleveland at the election of November, 1921, for their approval. Copies of the proposed amendment were mailed to the electors prior to the election, as provided by the constitution. A digest of the substance of the amendment, consisting of 86 lines, which digest substantially expressed the purpose and terms of the amendment, was printed on the ballot. The constitution did not prescribe that copies of amendments submitted at municipal elections in charter cities should be placed upon the ballots. Held: That this was a substantial compliance with the constitution. (State ex rel. Greenlund v. Fulton, Secretary of State, 99 Ohio St., 168, distinguished and held not to apply to municipal charter elections.)

5. The Hare System of Proportional Representation, providing a system of voting at municipal elections, which was submitted to the voters of Cleveland in the election of November, 1921. as a part of the city charter amendment, and adopted, is valid under the home-rule amendment of the Ohio constitution.

6. Under the home-rule amendment to the Ohio constitution, the rule that each elector is entitled to vote for every officer whose place is to be filled, is no longer law in this state as regards elections held under home-rule city charters.

Reutener v. The City of Cleveland et al., 107 O. S. 119.

Sec. 14. Regular Election Officers to Conduct Elections. All elections and submissions of questions provided for in this article shall be conducted by the election authorities prescribed by general law. The percentage of electors required to sign any petition provided for herein shall be based upon the total vote cast at the last preceding general municipal election. (Adopted Sept. 3, 1912.)

CONSTITUTION OF UNITED STATES-1787

ARTICLE I.

Sec. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several states, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

When vacancies happed in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

Sec. 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

ARTICLE II.

Sec. 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

[The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two-thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice-President.]

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors,