5. Where, between the sixtieth day preceding the date of the closing of the poll and the tenth day following that date, the secretary is unable to act owing to absence or illness or refuses to act, or where the secretary is a candidate for the election, he shall be replaced by the person designated to that position by the executive committee. That person, duly sworn, shall, for the purposes of the election, exercise all the rights and assume all the obligations of the secretary being replaced.