election, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding one year, or both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court, and disfranchised for ten years.

Canvass of returns-violation of duty.

Section 17. Violation of Duty by State or County Election Board.-Any member of the state or county election board of a general or primary election who shall willfully violate any of the provisions of law relating to canvassing the results of any election shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than three years.

Fraudulent changing of ballots.

Section 18. Changing Elector's Ballot.-Whoever fraudulently and deceitfully changes the vote or ballot of any elector, by which such elector shall be prevented from voting such ballot, or for such person as he intended, shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.

Divulging votes.

Section 19. Penalty for Disclosing How an Elector Votes. Any election officer who shall disclose how any elector may have voted, unless upon a trial in a court of competent jurisdiction he may be so required, shall be fined not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars.

Disturbances, intimidations, deceptions.

Section 20. Unlawful Acts in General and Primary Elections. If any person in any manner disturbs the orderly proceedings of any such general or primary election or intimidates or in any manner attempts to intimidate or deter from voting, or imposes, or attempts to impose, any duly authorized voter, a ticket or ballot other than it appears on its face to be, such person or persons shall be fined not less than ten dollars or be

imprisoned for not more than three months.

Destruction and substitution of ballots.

Section 21. Destroying Ballots.-Whoever on any day between the commencement of any general or primary election and the close of and canvass thereof, by the officers, fraudulently destroys any of the ballots given and received at said election, or takes away or abstracts from any ballot box any of the ballots so given or received, or puts into such box any ballots except such as are properly voted by electors, or in any manner wilfully intermingles with the ballots which shall have been voted by the electors, any other ballots or tickets which shall not have been duly received by the election officers during the election, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison not less than one year nor more than three years.

False swearing.

Section 22. False Swearing to Elector's Qualifications. Whoever is guilty of wilful and corrupt false swearing, or affirming, where interrogated as to his qualifications as an elector, at any general or primary election, or when his testimony may be required in any contested election, or whoever wilfully and corruptly procures another person to swear or affirm falsely as aforesaid, shall be guilty of a felony.

Illegal voting.

Section 23. Casting Illegal Ballot.-Whoever casts knowingly an illegal vote at any primary or general election in this state, held according to law, shall be guilty of a felony, and be disfranchised for ten years. Election precincts-boundaries-officers and supplies.

Section 24. Election Precincts.-The election precincts provided by the Oklahoma State Election Law and the inspectors, judges and clerks and blanks and supplies at the polling places provided by said law

shall be the same for the primary nominating elections, and it shall be the duty of the inspectors, judges and clerks so provided to act as such at all primary nominating elections; provided, it shall be the duty of the various county election boards to create, alter, divide or discontinue voting precincts, as in their judgment is best and proper under the limitations of number of voters now provided by law for each precinct, and the secretary of such board shall keep in a bound book a complete record of the boundary of each precinct, the name of the voting place therein, the number of votes cast and the date thereof. All boundary lines outside cities and incorporated towns shall follow section lines as nearly as practicable, but no precinct line shall cross the boundary line of any congressional, legislative or commissioners district; provided, that the territory of the voting precinct may extend beyond the boundary lines of incorporated towns or cities, if the county election board deems it advisable.

Count of votes-duplicate certificates of result-disposition.

Section 25. Election Certificates.-At any primary or general election when the callers announce the vote, the enumerators shall call the number aloud; keeping check on each other, and when the count is completed the two tally sheets shall be signed by the four counters. The four counters shall then fill out the certificates in the back of the book of ballots without detaching it from said back, and they shall also make out at least five duplicates of such certificates. Each certificate shall have only the total of each candidate's votes, and that shall be written with pen and ink, in words and figures. Each certificate shall be signed by each of

the four counters and sworn to before the inspector of the elections, and when properly certified and sworn to shall be prima facie evidence of the correctness of the precinct vote. One of said certificates so signed and sworn to shall be kept by the inspector of clections, one shall be filed with the county clerk, of the county at the time the ballot boxes are returned and delivered to the county election board, and such certified copy shall become a permanent public record in the office of the county clerk, and shall not be removed thercfrom. And within one hour after the count is completed, the election inspector shall cause one copy of such certificate to be posted in a public place immediately outside of the polls for public inspection and the other two copies shall constitute the returns. Any person who shall deface or remove the certificate posted, as provided in this section, within twenty-four hours thereafter, or any officer who knowingly fails, neglects or refuses to comply with the provisions of this scction, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than five years, or imprisonment in the county jail not less than three months nor more than one year.

Passed the House of Representatives April 9, 1913.
Passed the Senate April 17, 1913.

Received by the Governor April 25, 1913.

Received in the office of Secretary of State, with no action thereon by the Governor, at 4:10 o'clock p. m., May 1, 1913.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.

UNITED STATES, Ex rel. KNIGHT vs. LANE,
Secretary of the Interior.

The whole doctrine of this far-reaching and most important opinion centers in this: That until the United States has parted absolutely with the legal title to lands even after an adjudication of said title it may reconsider its former decision if equitable reasons are sufficient to so do. And that it cannot be mandated to adhere to its first opinion if unfairly obtained.

See the following opinion, herein set out in full and which verifies this statement.

Opinion by Justice Van Devanter.

This writ of error brings up for review a judgment of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia (35 App. D. C. 429) affirming a judgment of the Supreme Court of the District refusing a writ of mandamus commanding the Secretary of the Interior to deliver to the relator a patent for a tract of land claimed by the latter as a Cherokee allotment. The facts upon which the decision must turn are these:

On August 21, 1907, a parcel of allottable land containing 50 acres, in the Cherokee Nation, was selected as an allotment for Eva Waters, a minor Cherokee child belonging to the class whose rights to participate in the distribution and allotment of the tribal funds and lands were sustained in the recent decision in Gritts v. Fisher, 224 U. S. 640. A week later William Twist and the relator, Herman Knight, enrolled Cherokees, respectively selected the westerly 20 acres and the easterly 30 acres of the same tract as allotments for themselves, and in futherance of their selections instituted contests against that of Eva Waters. A hearing on Twist's contest resulted in a decision in his favor by the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. On an appeal to the Com