The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1868-07-09
The State Registry Law.

The objections 10 the Registry law iu
this State, regulating elections, which
were promptly made to the Supreme Court
as soon as the act went into operation,
were on the ID inst. decided upon by the
court at nisi prius. All the Judges were
upon the bench, and the majority, JUS
tices Thompson, Sharswood and Strong,
decided that the law was unconstitutional.
Justices Read and Agnew disscntcd-
AS all the judges assisted in the consid-
Grafton of this case, which was argued at
great length, it may be presumed that any
attempt to carry the question to the court
in banc will meet with a like fate. The
case is settled by this preliminary deci-
sion, and the law being declared uncou-
stitutional, the whole syssem, devised for
the purpose of checking fraud at the cleo
tions, falls with it. The intention of the
act was good one, but there were some
provisions in it which were not just. We
refer particularly to the clauses which
gave to the convasscrs power to set down
upon the registration such persons as they
might kno,o to be voters, which, in fact,
excluded all that they did not know. In
a country district, where almost every
body knows everybody else, such a provi-
sion might be no hardship, but in city
where there arc thousands of people who
do know their next door ncighbors, such
a regulation might prove in practice very
unjust.
1t is true that the law provided means
for the citizens who were entitled, in the
registration, to prove their right to vote,
by applying before the canvasscrs and
showing their qualifications but the Of
officers were not compelled to insert their
names on the lists. 1t was a matter Of
discretion with them, and if they should
corruptly refuse to do justice, they could
claim immunity upon the ground that a
judicial discretion was vested In thcm.-
If the citizen whose name was left off
the list did not, or conld not, from any
cause, attend the meeting for rectifcation
of errors, his right to vote was lost, and
he was excluded from the polls. These
objections and others were very strong
against the law and, although it was pass
ed by the majority in the last Legisla-
ture, it was not measure that was uni
vereally popular among Republicans. 1t
| HlSut Oc INC cduSC vi great 10 JuStlcc, anu
could only be defended ground that the
end on the justifes the means. The Con-
stitution of the State prescribcs that, in
elections by the citizens, fevcry white
freeman of the age of twenty-onc years,
having resided in this State one year, and
in the election "district where he offers
to vote for ten days Immediately proceed
ing such election, and within "two years
have paid State or county tax, which
"shall have been assessed tleast ten days
before "thc election, shall enjoy the right
of an election "ctc" The Registration
law did not attempt to change these fun
damental provisions, but it narrowdced
them down, and required, in addition,
qualifications which were in the control
of the officers created to conduct the re-
gistration, rather than of the voter
These were certainly great objections,
and the Supreme Court say that they
were of sufficient Importance to render
the statue void.-Iaquircr