The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1865-11-04
A REGISTRY LAW.

o o' i
June election. 1t is not to be an Act of
apparent disfranchisement of the emf
grants who have arrived from Missouri
and other Southwestern or Western
States; but yet this will be its real APP
plication. The thing is not "a new in
vention-but who would charge that
body with any powers of originality ?-it
is simply a system which has been fully
tested in States that were Democratic,
and by application of the system, have
been converted-or perverted, we ought
to say-into Abolition States, at the
East. 1t is a Registry law! The
Statesman is high authority in this mat
ter, and we accept its statement.
A " Registry law" looks more %innocu-
Gus ON paper, and is more euphonious to
the sound, than a claw to Disfranchise
Emigrants," but in this instance there is
practically no difference between the
two, so far as the emigrants are concerned,
while in every other aspect the former is
the most odious. A law to disfranchise
emigrants would exclude from the right
of suffrage only the emigrants; a Regis
try law, on the other hand, could be SO
drafted as not only to strike at all the
emigrants, but further to disfranchise a
large number of the settled, long-resident,
permanent citizens of the State. Regis
try laws. as put into operation in other
States, require of each voter that he shall
register his name, residence, avoeation,
BE, in the registry books kept by a
Board of Registrars, who sit at certain app
pointed times and places. The failure to
register his name, agreeably to the law,
disqualifes the voter for the election in
view, although he may be a lifelong citi-
zen, whose right to a vote is in~disputable
on every other ground. And the power
is vested almost absolutely in the Board
of Registrars to decide whether an appli-
cant shall or shall not be permitted to
) register his name. Their sittings termi-
nate a few days just prior to the election.
; and after their books are then closed, no
voter is permitted to register his name.
and is, consequently, prohibited from
I voting.
Again. to show the Registry law more
repulsive than a law to d~isfranchise emi.
grants, we will present it in another
phase-that of additional expense to the
! State. An Act to disfranchise emigrants
would simply devolye upon the Judge:
t of Election the duty to question each
voter, and if he proved to be n of the
excluded class, his vote would be refused
!, There would be no additional expense at
tached to this method. Now, the Regis
try law brings into existence Boards o.
three or more Registrars in every election
District. and demands the rental of jus
!, no ,nany registry Offices as there are
Boards of Registrars. A rough estimate
of the number of these Boards which
! would be required may be presented
There are twenty-one counties in Oregon
E and in each county say an average of tel
$ election precincts. This would require
: at three Registrars to each Board, th,
|. employment of the great number of sd
hundred and thirty RedStrarsi and tn,
: renting of two hundred and ten Registrl
Offices. The Boards would be required
to sit at least FIVE days, and the pay o
the Registrars would certainly be not les
than five dollars per day, nor the renta
of the offices less than ten dollars each
This would require a total expenditure o
say SIT $50 for the mere pay of Regis
trars and offices. Add to this the amour
required to pay a Clerk to each Board
printing, stationery, and !" contingent ex
: penses," and we should have a sum o
!. about teenty.fre thousand dollars ex
: pended at each election We have mad,
!! an estimate at the lowest figures. 1t i
for tax payers to reflect upon this featur
m of the proposed law, without reference t
the more important feature-that of dis
franchising citizens for no just caus
whatever, and only because of their fail
u ure to register their votes at the appointe,
! time and place.
! There are several other very objection
Of able features of the proposed law, but W
of will defer mention of them for futur
l. issues. Suffice it here to say that tn
I'd system is open to most fragrant frauds
and, in the hands of INSCRIPTIONS off
a GERS, can be converted into a machin
which can disfranchise hundreds of Den
ocratic voters in the State. We will no,
NJ simply state that any such act is in d
rect conflict with the State Constitution
and we trust that Democrats all over tb
State will, in case such a measure sha
be passed by the Legislature at the sp,
!. cial session, show their devotion to tn
~ paramount authority of the Constitution
O. by entirely and utterly disregarding tn
'. law by every means. If Abolition Legi
~lators violate the State Constitution, Il
s Democrats everywhere observe it. N
citizen is called upon to obey an Al
J, which is maRifestly apd undeniably j
- violation of the Constitution, and we trul
: the Democrats of Oregon will never stoo
to such a plain transgression of this par,
40 mount duty.