Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-09-21

Speaker House of Representatives.
ANDREW G. MCBURNEY,
President OF the Senate.
Passed April 16, 1867.
The Constitution of Ohio declares tina
none but white male citizens of the Unite
States. OF the age of twenty-one years, soh
shall hdce been a resident of the State one yea
neat preceding the election, and of the county
township or ward in which he resides, sue
time as may be provided by law" shal
Exercise the elective franchise. u
The law which the Herald objects to tn
repeal of, gives to citizens of Indians
Pennsylvania, and other States, 1t they ar
inmates of the National Asylum for dis
abled soldiers, the right to vote in Ohio, ol
the sole condition that they are citizens o
the United States, and have the residenc
rt quired by law in the county or township
| (thirty days in the county and twenty
| days in the township or ward), thus dis
regarding the Constitution, which requires
residence in the State of one year mex
preceding the election.
Under the law, before it was repealed, al
inmate of the asylum for thirty days, if b,
had his residence in Wayne county, In.
diana, could vote in Ohio, and thus, by
railroad, in four hours time, pass to hil
real home and again vote for President, ant
no law in Ohio or in Indiana could punisl
him for so doing. The law of Ohio, disre.
garding the Constitution. gave him vote
in Ohio, although he was not entitled to it
No court would punish man for voting
when the law gave him special right to dt
so. In Indiana he'could not be punished
for double voting, because his residence il
Indiana gave him legal right to vote il
that State, and to exercise it was, there
fore, no crime, yet man voting twice III
Ohio, or twice in Indiana, could be pun
ished as for Penitentiary offense.
The reason, then, that this law was re-
pealed, was to prevent double voting-to
prevent the colonization of voters in Mont
gomery county, whose legal residences
were in other counties or in other States.
Every white male citizen of the United
States, in the Asylum for thirty days pre-
vious to The election, who has resided one
year in the State, has an undoubted right
to vote at all elections in the township
where the Asylum is located. This right
is given him by the Constitution, and no
law of Ohio, unless the person offering to
vote has forfeited his right by crime of
which he was first duly convicted, can de-
prive him of it. So far from doing this,
the amended law, passed by the last Legis-
lature, recognizes and enforces this right
by appropriate legislation. s.s.L
The right to vote, thus guaranteed by
the Constitution of Ohio, and enforced by
the laws of the Democratic Legislature, we
are sorry to believe will be shamefully
abused by those controlling the Asylum
for disabled soldiers, which it seems, the
managers intend to use as an Asylum to
teach men to vote for the disabled poll
ticians OF the Radical party. a. s1
A telegram to the Cincinnati ENQUIRER,
from Dayton, under date of the 9th, says:
Mine invalid soldiers were discharged
from the Asylum near this city, yesterday
and to-day, for attending Democratic
meeting addressed by Vallandigham on
Monday night. Others are expected to
follow. Intense excitement prevails
among all classes of p ople on account OF
this outrage. Men of all parties are Justly
indignant. The men discharged will be
provided for by the Democrats, and not
allowed to suffer-" .1a'
We have letters, from soldiers In the
Asylum corroborating the fact, which we
would make public but for the reason that
it would render them liable to the perse-
cution of the heartless scoundrels who
thus would deprive the soldier of his right
to hear the questions of the day discussed.
Did the Herald ever hear Of this outrage,
Or does its editor remember the fact but to
forget it?
The Herald, too. forgets that last fall,
when the fact was made public by the doc
aments and by the votes on the Legislative
Journals, that its party friends seized, with
out warrant of Constitutional law, over
raised by taxes to support the in
1igent soldiers, the widow and the orphan,
taken by the Radical Fund Commits
sioners of Ohio and diverted from the pur-
pose it was raised, thus leaving the Grip
pied soldier to starve and the widow and
the orphan of those who fell in battle, to
hide their poverty and their misery in the
county poor house, because of this theft,
Tor theft it was, and that every Republican
member of the Legislature present at the
time, voted to consummate the outrage. The
Herald defended and palliated and excused
the act. No other paper in Ohio had the
temerity to do this-the Radical officials
themselves dared not then, as they dare not
now, write word in its defense-the Her
nd alone, of all the Radical press, defend
ing it. Its party friends now feel the need
Of Illegal votes, and it whines that one
source from whence the supply was to come
was cut of by the repeal of an unconstitu-
,ional law. That repeal prevents no citi-
zen OF Ohio, who has right under the Con-
'titution to vote, from exercising that
right, but it does prevent citizens of other
States from voting in Ohio.