Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1856-12-25

| tueE vi dClSj III any courts Ol Ine Inlteu
States, or of any State or Territory, or of any
offence deemed infamous, shall he entitled to
vote at any election, or to hold any Office in
this Territory : And proridcd, further, That
if any person Offering to vote shall be ehal-
lenged, and required to take an oath or affir-
nation to be administered by one of the judges
of the election, that he will sustain the pro-
| visions of the aboYe-recited acts of Congress,
aid of the act entitled An act to organize
the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas ap-
| proved May 80, 1854, and shall refuse to take
| such oath or affirmation, the rote of such per-
son shall be rejected.
"SEc II. Every person possessing the quail
ificatiou of voter, as hereinbefore prescrib-
ed, and who shall have resided in this Terri.
tory thirty days prior to the election at which
{ he may offer himself as candidate, shall be
eligible as Delegate to the House of Repre-
sentatives of the United States, to either
branch of the Legislative Assembly and to
all other offices in this Territory, not other
wise especially provided for Prorided, hoao-
crer, That each member of the Legislative
Assembly, and every officer elected or appoint
ed to Office under the laws of this Territory,
shall, in addition to the oath or affirmation
specially provided to be taken by such officer,
take an oath or affirmation to support the
Constitution of the United States the provis-
| ions of an act entitled An act respecting fu-
gitveS from justice and PERSONS Escaping from
the service of their masters approved Febru-
| aIy II, 1898, aud of an act to amend and
supplementary to said aforementioned act, ap-
proved Sptember Is, 1850 4; and of an act
entitled An act to organize the Territories
of Nebraska and Kansas approved May so,
1854"
The provision in the organic act passed by
Congress is, that no person shall vote In that
Territory, at the first or any subsequent cleo
tien, unless he is citizen of the United States
or has declared his intention to become such
But the law of Kansas admits all Indians to
vote who have adopted the habits of the white
man.
But it may be said, that the only effect of
such a provision would be to exclude all such
votes as illegal, and not to vitiate the election
The board of elections would be bound to ad-
nit them, because under the law of the Terri
tory they are legal votes The election law of
Kansas, therefore, admits class of voters who,
by the organic act passed by Congress, are pro-
hibited from voting While the law admits
class to vote who are prohibited by Congress,
it excludes, by test oathS, class which the or
ganic act permits to vote, and to whom the
Constitution of the United States guarantees
the rights of franchise
This law is doubly void then. because it per-
mitS class to vote who are excluded by the
organic law, and excludes a class who are en-
titled, upon every principle of a just and free
Government, TO vote in the Territory of Kansas
| need not repeat the provisions in reference
to the test oaths, one of which disquafes any
man from voting if he refuses to swearto sup
port the Fugitive Slave Law These provisions
not only violate the Constitution of the United
States, but are subrersive of every principle of
just government, and trample in the dust the
inalienable rights of American freemen OF
what use is the elective franchise, if YOU can
impose upon the voter, as a qualification to
vote, an oath to support any particular law
For what does he go to the polls. save to elect
men to make, alter, amend, or repeal laws
And if, when he comes to vote, he must first
swear to support the very law he wants chang
ed, it is mockery to call it the right of Suf-
frage.
The nineteenth section of this law, though it
is not in conflict with the letter of the Consti-
tuition, violates every principle of fairness or
Justice in the exercise of franchise among fair
aud honest voters Ii declares that when
ever anv person shall offer to vote. he shall
be presumed to be eRtitled to vote" This
provision requires the party, who would pre-
serve the purity of the balIot-boX to prove q
negative. The opinion of the venerated Sena-
tor from Delaware, Mr.. Clayton, describes
truly the effect of this clause in a speech he
made in the Senate during the extra session
" There could be no Justice in elections, with
such provision as that in the bill. The bur
den of proof is on the wrong party. and there
fore the law is clearly and manifestly unjust
and oppressive Under it, every person un-
known TO the citiZeLS of the election precinct
could vote and it would be entirely unReces-
sary for foreigner to be naturalized, for, were
he challenged, the objector must prove that he
not naturalized, which would manifestly be i'm
possible.
By section twenty, Whenever any person
offers to vote, his vote may be challenged by
one of the judges, or by any voter, and the
judges of the election may examine him
touching his right to vote and if 50 eEamlH-
I'd, no eridcRoe 10 contradict shall Be rsceIrcd.
Though the objector may hold in his hands the
most ample evidence to prove the false voters
perjury. yet his vote must be received.
Well might the Senator from Delaware ask,
as he did in the Senate, what part of the ci-
vilzed world is an election conducted on this
principle
The election law of Kansas, upon which this
certificate is based, is, in addition to the rea
sons already given, unconstitutional for il fixes
in the twelfth section qualifications for men,
Der of Congress different from those prescrib-
ed by the Constitution of the United States
The qualification prescribed by the second
section of article one of the Constitution is,
that
Z" No person shall be a REPRESENTATIVE who
shall not have attained the age of twenty-five
rnnrS and hn ra heen Saran rnarS a Citizen of