Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-04-02

sary to inquire after any other grant of
power than the general grant of the legis- |
lative power. 1t being within the scope
OF the legislative power it is competent tor
the Legislature to enact it unless prohibi.
ted: This rule with respect to the state
Legislatures Is too well settled to need q
reference TO authorities.
ana 1t Is not enough to say that
the trainers Of the constitution new |
er contemplated or "dreamed of" g. |
law authorizing ballot to be cast outside |
OF the State. That may be conceded but
no prohibition can be implied from it
Inc legislative power may undoubtedly do |
many things in the progress of society,
that the trainers of the Constitution never
thought OF. 1t is not enough to say that
such laws are unusual and have never been
passed before. This must be admitted
but no case can be found where such facts
have been held to amount to a prohibi-
ton upon legislative action. On the con-
trary the rule is well settled, as stated bv
the Supreme Court of Michigan in Tyzer
rs. the People, 6th Mich. 333, shat to
warrant Us in declaring a statute uncon.
stltutional, We should be able to Law orr
finger on the part OF the Constitution vic,
lated, and that the intraction should be
clear and free from reasonable doubt
AS has already been said, with one ex.
ception, no clause of the Constitution was
relied Ga as amounting to a prohibition.
mat exception related to section 5, arti-
Gle 10, which is as follows: can persons
residing upon Indian lands within any
county OF the State and qualified to exer-
else the right OF suffrage under this Con-
sututlon, shall be entitled to vote at the
polls which may be held nearest their res.
ldence for State, United States. or county
officers prO0ided that no person shall
O0te for county officers out Of the county
IN aOh5ch he resides"
What Is the meaning of this prUviso
Did it mean to prohibit any voter from
ever being allowed to cast his ballot outside
OF the county IN which he resided, though
voting Tor officers OF such county, or did it
mean only to prohibit any voter from vo.
ting for the county officers of a county in
which he did not reside? 1t seems to me
obVious y the latter. In the fret place. if
the trainers had intended to enact any
general provision, combining the right of
voting to any particular place, it would
| naturally have been inserted as distinct
| provision in connection with the article
! on suffrage. But there is nothing of the
kind. No attempt was made to provide
anything on tile subject, until they came
to consider very small class of the in
habltants OF the State, the settlers on the
Indian lands. For their convenience the
| section above referred to gave them the
right to vote at the nearest polls to their
residence, Tor State, United States. and
county officers. But the nearest polls
might sometimes be in another coanty ::
and the general right granted in the Sec
ton having authorized the voter to vote
for county officers" if unrestricted. it
could have been claimed that he could
vote for county officers although voting in
county IN which he did not reside. Hence
the necessity for the proviso. But what
| county officers did the trainers understand
would be voted for, in such a case.
If there was no restriction2 Did they
assume that the voter would vote for the
county officers of his own county. and
adopt the prOviso for the purpose of pre-.
venting it2 Obviously not. If thew had
understood it to be practicable for him to
vote for the county officers OF his own
county at the polls in another, they clearly
would not have prohibited it at all. The
same reasons which induced them to allow
him to vote for any officers at polls in
another county, would have led them to
allow him to vote there also for the coun-
! ty officers OF his own county. provided
they had understood it to be practicable.
But they evidently assumed that it was
not practicable. Not because in the ma
ture of things it would be impossible to
provide mode in which it might be &C.
compllshed, but because without some
extraordinary provisions of law relating
| expressly to such votes, it would be
wholly lmpracticable to vote at the gen.
erai polls In one county for the county
officers of another. For this reason. the
prohibition of such voting was not the
| idea IN the minds of the trainers in enact
ing the proviso. What then was it ?
| Clearly to prevent him in such a case
from voting for the county officers of the
county where be voted, but in which he
did not reside. Without the proviso, this
right might have been claimed by him
This would have been obviously i'm
proper. 1t would be contrary to the
general policy and spirit of our laws to
allow the residents OF one county to have
a voice IN deciding who should be the
county officers in another To prevent it
was the sole idea and object of this pro.
viso. The words "out of the county in
which he resides" refer to the officers to
be voted Tor, not to the act of voting. Its
meaning was, not that no person should
ever be allowed to vote ont of the county
in which he resided for the officers of that
county, but that no person should ever be
allowed to vote anywhere for the officers
Of county in which he did not reside
Such being its true and only meaning, it
furnishes no prohibition against the law
in question.
In section II, article IA, is the following
provision: q" The several elections pro
vided for in this article, shall be conducted
according to the existing laws of the
Territory: PrO0aded, that no elector shall
be entitled to vote except in the town.
ward or precinct where he resides.n This
was referred to upon the argument, but it
was hardly claimed to have any direct
| application to the question. By its ex
press terms it applied only to the elections
| provided for IN the schedule, which were
the first elections to accomplish the Or
| ganlzatiOn of the State Government. II
might just as we'll be said that it required
all elections under the Constitution TO
be forever conducted according to the
then existing laws of the Territory. a. to
say that it had the effect of making the
proviso applicable to any elections other
than those provided for in that article L
was temporary in its character. and whom
those hrst elections had been held IFS fnno.
ton was ended. The only bearjno IL can
| q