h as twenty-five years of age. By law of November 30, 1875,
state officials are forbidden to become candidates in districts where
their position might enable them to influence elections, and by act of
June 16, 1885, members of families who have ever reigned in France are
debarred. All that is required of a person who, possessing the
requisite legal qualifications, wishes to be a candidate is that five
days before the election he shall deposit with the prefect of the
department within which the polling is to take place a declaration,
witnessed by a mayor, of the name of the constituency in which he
proposes to seek election. Even this trifling formality was introduced
only by the Multiple Candidature Act of 1889, by which it is
stipulated that no person shall be a candidate in more than one
district. The French electorate is proverbially indifferent concerning
the exercise of the suffrage, but the methods of campaigning which
have become familiar in other countries are employed systematically,
and no small measure of popular interest is occasionally aroused.[480]

[Footnote 480: "During the electoral period,
circulars and platforms signed by the candidates,
electoral placards and manifestoes signed by one or
more voters, may, after being deposited with the
public prosecutor, be posted and distributed
without previous authorization." Organic Law of
November 30, 1875, Art. 3.]

*346. The Conduct of Parliamentary Elections.*--The electoral (p. 319)
process is simple and inexpensive. Voting is by secret ballot, and the
balloting lasts one day only. As a rule, the polling takes place in
the _mairie_, or municipal building, of the commune, under the
immediate supervision of an electoral bureau consisting of a president
(usually the mayor), four assessors, and a secretary. The state does
not provide ballot-papers, but one or more of the candidates may be
depended upon to supply the deficiency. The count is public and the
result is announced without delay. If it is found that no candidate
within the district has polled an absolute majority of the votes cast,
and at the same time a fourth of the number which the registered
voters of the district are legally capable of casting, a second
balloting (the so-called _ballottage_) is ordered for one week from
the ensuing Sunday. No one of the candida