Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1871-12-21
ELECTIONS.

One OF the most serious objectione t.
our constitution is the number and FIRE
quency Of elections which it prescribes
We now have annually two cleo lions, on,
on the fourth Thursday in May and tn
other on the first Tuesday before the sec
ond Monday in November. Aside from
the loss of time to the citizen in attend
ance upon registration and the polls and
the excitement Of feeling aud disturbance
of business incident thereto, very heavJ
expense is entailed upon our people which
they are lily able to bear, and there j,
no necessity for it. There ought not to
be more than one election id cath year
for State purposes. Congressman arr
elected every two years and a President
every four years, and by law % Con-
gress the latter olec..-.I must be held on
the Tuesday after tie first Monday in
November, and an, clearly of the opin-
ion that it is advisable to hold our Con-
gressional election at the same time now
prescribed by law. But I ara very deci-
dedly in favor of so amending tho Con.
stitution as that all State, county, mu-
nicipal and township elections shall be
held on the fourth Thursday in May.
This was at the time fer holding State
elections prescribed By our former con-
stitution, and was found by experience to
be the most convenient time for our peo-
pie, and by its adoption now We should
save the time, expenses and incidental
evils of two elections except in each al
ternate year. am also in favor of this
change in the Constitution for another,
and to me, very eogent reason. 1t would
remove our State elections beyond even
the pale of an excuse for Federal inter
vention. By the fourth section of the
first article of the Federal Constitution
the Leg slatures of the several States are
authorized to prescribe the times, places
and manner of holding elections therein
for Congressional representatives, but the
right to ma ke or alter such regulation at
any time is reserved to the Congress.
For more than three fourths of century
the authority thus conferred npon the
State Legislatures had been satisfactorily
exercised by them. Twenty one Presi-
Dental and forty-two Congressional cleo
tons had been held, some of them amid
the confusion and excitement of foreign
wars or the throes Of domestic revolution,
and yet no occasion had arisen in the
opinion Of our wisest statesmen calling
for, or that could justify, The assertion 0 f
the reserved right of Congress to make
or alter tie regulations prescribed by the
States. Not until the year 1870. perl
cd of profound peace and universal prevail
ence of Law anu order when the Federal
administration. two>thirds of both
branches of Congress and three fourths
Of all the State Governments were in the
hands Of one political party, did the
Congress of the United States attempt to
interfere or regulate the mode or manner
of the election of its own representatives.
In that clause of the Federal Constitution
which prescribes that each house shall be
the judge of the election, returns and
qualifications Of its own. members, ii
therefore found au ample safe gaurd for
the protection of the rights and interest
of its own members and their constitu-
ents. The forty-frst Congress, however,
undertook directly to control the election,
not only Of its own representatives. but
also the election of State officers held al
the same time. By an act approved May
31st, entitled an act to enforce the
right of citizens of the United States te
vote in the several States Of the Union
aad for other purposes. and an amendment
thereof, approved February 28th, 1871
the Federal Government, under tbs pre-
tence of protecting the freedom of th'
ballot, strikes down the freedom Of thu
citizen; and under Che guise OF regulating
the election of Congressman, is sough
the regulation and control Of the affair
of the State.
In towns of over twenty thousand in
habitants the polls may be surrounded b,
horde of petty aud irresponsible Off
cials designated as supervisors of elec-
tons and deputy United States marshals
Including, at the discretion of the marsha
every voter in the ranks of his party, al
appointed by Federal officials and paic
out Of the Federal treasury, who upol
any fancied or prearrsngcd pretext, ma,
not ouly arrest any citizen or prevent hi
exercise Of the right to vote, but the!