Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-08-01
CAN A LEGAL ELECTION BE HELD
To-Day

CAN A LEGAL ELECTION BE HELD
TODAY?
The eleventh section of the franchise
law provides as follows:
"That it shall be the duty of each Com
missioner of Registration to report to the
Governor, when he shall have completed
the registration of his county; and when
said reports are all in from any county,
district, or circuit, or from any entire State,
it shall be the duty of the Governor to
issue his proclamation and writ of election,
announcing the completion of such registra-
ton, and ordering elections to fill all the
vacant Offices of the State, counties, cir
cults, or districts"
The proclamation contemplated by the
law has not been issued by the Governor
Why this proclamation has been omitted
Is best known to the Governor and his
confidential advisers. A few weeks be-
fore the municipal election of last year,
the point was made that a proclamation
was not necessary in that particular elec-
ton The Press and Times of Sept.
A. 1866, in an editorial that bears the
unmistakable impress of the acting Gov
ernor, took the ground that nc election
could be held until the registration should
be completed and proclamation of such
completion be made by the Governor.
The Press and Times, after quoting the
eleventh and twelfth sections of the fran
chise law of May 3, 1866, the latter being
identical with the one we have quoted,
said
From these provisions of the franchise
act, it is plain that no registration is conf
piete, within the meaning and intent of the
law until the report of the fact is made to
the Governor, and he announces. by procId-
nation, such completion Itisun-
deniable then that no election can lawfully
take place until the registration is com
pleted and there can be no such compile
ton until after proclamation by the Gov
ernor, on report made to him by the Com
missioner. By the fifth section
of the law, the voter in a municipal elec-
ton must not only recej We a certificate. but
must also be registered; yet he has no au.
thOrity TO approach the ballot-bnx with his
certificate until the registration is complete
and he can have no official notification of
any such completion until the Governor
announces it by proclamation. The pos
session of a certificate does not give TO
voter under it the right to select the day
upon which he will deposit his vote. The
law stops the voter from exercising the
elective franchise until the completion of
the registration shall be officially declared
No exception, as regards the completion of
registration, is made in favor of municipal
elections. They are not exempted any
more than county, district or State cleo
tions from the operations of the law. The
disabilities which are placed on one are
placed on all.
The ground is here distinctly taken
that no election of any character could
be held until the Governor issued his
proclamation announcing the completion
of the registration. And on the 18th of
September 1866, the Governor did issue
a proclamation announcing the compile
ton Of the registration for Davidson
county, and directing the Sheriff to hold
an election for Representative in the Lee
gislature, and to fill all other vacancies
in county, district and municipal Offices
which may exist The registration to
which this proclamation referred was,
by act of the Legislature of March g.
1867, declared null and void, and
new registration was ordered.
In letter to the editor of the Press and
Times, dated July "a, acting Governor
Fletcher said
In answer to your inquiry as to the
state of the registration in the State, | send
you table of all the counties whose reg
listers have reported up to this date, the re-
port for Davidson county being unofficial
but correct"
This list embraces sixty-nine counties,
but Davidson was not officially reported.
The Commissioners for the following
counties had not reported up to that date
Benton, Dyer Greene, Hickman, Harde-
man, Henderson, Johnson, Montgomery,
ObiOn, Stewart, Sullivan, Upton, Warren,
Fentress and Perry. IN Warren county,
the Commissioner gave notice that he
would close the registration of that county
on the 3lst of July The registration of
Warren under the act of May 3, 1866,
had been set aside by the Governor as
had the registration Of Benton Coffee,
Franklin, Hardeman, Humphreys, Lin
coin, Stewart, Williamson, Overton, Mons
roe and Giles. If it be contended that
any proclamation in regard to those coun
ties the registration of which has not
been disturbed by the Legislature or the
Governor which may have been issued
under the act of May 3, 1866, win hold
good as to them, what viii be held in re-
gard to those counties in which the regis
tration has been set aside, and those other
counties in regard to the registration Of
which no proclamation has ever been is
sued
In 1866 it was held by the acting Gov
ernor that no election Of any character
could be held in any county or in the
State until after the Governor had issued
his proclamation declaring the registra>
ton complete In the light Of this inter-
probation Of the law, can legal election
be held to-day in any county in the
State