New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-04-22
THE REGISTRY ACT.

The Times says truly tnst iHh ihlbONh oi's-
nslly advocated m ore stringent Registry Act thsa
that ultimately passed. Bat We had learned ere
hi. 10 be content with rY>Aurss Of practical reform
whose provl,ions are gradu,ted rather TO the aver
age popular apprehension than 10 our o"a convlc'
tons. Our general rule is to ask for whs. il ab
strsctly night, and take so much thereof as we
can get As, with regard to the traffic in lnto1I-
cstpg Drinks, we are prepared to approve and
support the most restrictive act that can be thor
oushly enforced, so, with regard to Registry, we
approve of that law which, steering clear of the
rock of official aud Judicial rutc ,tio0, sh.l en-
body the best sttsnsbe safeguards against Illegal
and multiple voting. Hence, We are satisfied with
the act recently passed by our Legislature TO pre-
vent Illegal voting.
Were we required to frame constitutional pro
vision regulating and defining the Right Of Suffrage,
we should undoubtedly shape it as TO oblate all
cavl affecting the, validity Of stringent Registry
Act-an act which should permit none bui registered
electors TO vote But the late Legislature was
called not to revise the constitutional provision on
the subject, but to enact a lay In conformity to
that provision as it exists; 30 clearly in conformity
with It that hostile Inspectors shall have no prete1t
for MULTIPLYING aud disregsrdDg the act as unconsti!u
tionsl, and Democratic Court Of Appeals shall
have no plausible grounds for sustaining such null
fcatiCn.
Now, the Constitution Of our State art H.
prescribes clearly and fully the quaif cations Of
electors, and adds:
claws shall be made for ascertainirg by proper
proofs the citizeus who shall be entitled to the night Oh
suffrage hereby established"
Now, We should have no difficulty in deciding
as an Inspector that this clause authorizes tue
LIE pislature to provide for such ascertainmen
through a Registration of Voters, and that an
otherwise qualified elector who had neglected to
attend to the registering of bis name, and who
therefore was precladei from voting at the ensuing
election, was rigbtfully and yaiidIy precluded.
Bot we can realize that fair man might honestly
arrive at different conclusion; while we know
that many would, for party's sake, proclaim their
hearty concurrence in that conclusion. Let, u,
suppose, then, Democratic Board of Inspectors
boldipg an election at the Five Points Their
party hate snd detest the Registry Act knowing
that it will necessarily curtsil their facilities for
cheating. They want to nulllfy it; and to this end
they keep the names of half dozen good, indisPu-
table, wel-knOIn voters of the Registry. Those
voters present themselves before the Board, claim
ipg right to vote and offer to sustain that right by
the oaths of dozen unimpeachable witnesses OF
diverse parties ali ready TO swear that they have
known the applicants as legal voters in said dis
trict for the last eight or ten years. The Demo
cratic Board, promising that the Constitution
should govern the law not the law the Constitution,
decide that their votes good, and take them.
The point of the wedge thus inserted, it would of
course be driven home splitting the law into oven
wood. And whether the Court Of Appeals would
or would not see fit to punish those nulliyng
Inspectors and uphold tine violated law, we cannot
undertake to say. The risk that they might not
do it is greater than We should like to brave, unless
he necessity were most obvious and urgent
The Iin,s truly say. that "No man expecting to
cast a fraudulent ballot" will have his name
registered. OF course be will not. The risks are
too great the chance OF detection too strong. On
the other hand, the legal bona tide voters will,
almost TO man, be registered, and at the cost of
very little attention or trouble on their part The
registers, Their, will contain, on the morning of any
election, the names of at least ninety nine in every
hundred of the legal voters in the respective dis
tricts and hardly another nsme-the suffers keep
ing shy of the publicity snd scrutiny Invited BY the
registry. Now if the unregistered were allowed to
vote as at present should consider the registry
of very great value-a value far exceeding its cost
The naked fact that We have so clear a line Of
division drawn between legal and Illegal voters
would rearly abolish the latter class who now slip
in thousands of bogus votes UNDECIDED because IN.
suspected. But let US zee how they are to operate
under the new law:
/. Every unregistered person who offers TO vote
at any poll mu,t (no matter whether challenged or
not) swear that he is legal voter Of that district
3 He must assign under oath his reason or
reasons for not having caused his name to be regis
tered.
8. He must bring forward householder Of the
district who will swear that he kaOpS the person
offering to vote to be an nhsbi.sut of the district
residing (if in city at specified number Of q
designated street.
4. The name Of the voter i, to be recorded on
the pol-books not registered" 80 as to attract
and invite scrutiny.
We submit that under these conditions, the poll
ing of illegal votes to any extent will prove diff
cult, dangerous, and, where resolution and vgi-
lance are exerted to detect and prevent it, mo-
rally impossible. If The Times will unite with US
in seeking to render the law effective, instead of
encouraging suffers and repeaters to hope for fur
Their IMMUNITY in their nefsrious business we feel