The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1872-02-10
THE PACIFIC
Commercial AOOrrtlsrr,
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 10.
The Law of Elections.


The right to a voice in making the laws Of Zones
country under which one lives is a sacred fran
chise, solemnly guaranteed and je4ously guarded
in all constitutional governments. V0r popuH
r0r Da-the voice Of the people is the voice Of
God-is an accepted maxim in the theories Of all
free governments. Consequently the greatest
care and solicitude is manifested to obtain the
fullest and freest expression of that voice in the
regulation Of national affairs. For this purpose
laws are enacted having for their object the pro
vision of every proper facility for the exercise of
the franchise, 50 that every individual entitled
thereto may readily and unobstructcd enjoy the
right.
In observing closely the proceedings at the cleo
ton held on Monday last, we are brought to the
conclusion that the effect of our laws regulating
the exercise Of the elective franchise, so far from
producing the desirable results as contemplated
in the preceding paragraph, are positively a clog
and a bindrance Il confused mass of provisions
requiring much application and study to be thor
oughly understood, and involving the use of a
great deal of machinery that might with advan-
tage be dispensed with OF vastly simpliied. 1t
would seem as though the trainers Of these laws
desirs4 to make the exercise of the right to vote
SO hedged about with petty formalities and red
tapeism as to lead in many instances to n willful
neglect of the right, arising out of a natural dis
inclination to undergo the required amount of
- bother" The history of the ballot in other
countries proves beyond a question that when such
a symptom of apathy becomes plainly evident in
a free people, their government is extremely liable
to fall into corruption, if their liberties even are
not endangered.
By our laws, it is made the duty of the as
SCISSOR of taxes to enter upon his book whether
or not a tax payer is qualified to vote. This
book goes into the hands of the tax collector,
who when the tax is paid puts the name of the
person SO paying and SO qualified to vote, upon a
list, which list it might naturally be supposed
would be sufficient. evidence of the PERSONS eligi-
bility as a voter. That is evidently all that was
contemplated by the Constitution, which among
other qualifications of a voter provides that he
% shall have caused his name to be entered on
the list of voters of his district as may be pro-
vided by law" But the cumbersome law goes
on to say that after the person has been enrolled
by the assessor as a voter, paid his taxes and his
name been entered on the tax collector list as a
voter, and the said list put into the hands of the
of election, he must further produce
to said inspectors of election at the polls on such
day, a tax receipt bearing upon it in
printed letters, the words "qualifed to vote -
the same to be Cancelled after voting.
This wonderful law has been on the statute {
book since 1868, and we will venture to assert
that not more than one person in a hundred of
the entire population pretends to understand its
provisions thoroughly. Certainly a large pro-
portion of those who would be entitled to the
of voting are either in blissful ignor-
ance of the fact, or are deferred from attempting
to exercise the privilege through the petty legal
impediments with which it is surrounded. At
the late election in this city. not a few foreigners
came to the polls without having in their hands
the tax receipt, and were told to 90 home and
fetch it, before they could deposit their vote, al
though they were registered and legally qualified,
all but the production of the magic piece of
paper. Some did take the trouble to 90 home
Ind return with their receipt some went away
lisgusted, not to return ; and some came again,
bringing the much coveted document, to find that
they could not vote. after all, because for some
reason the receipt did not bear upon
t the words q qualified to VOTE although every
body knew that they were and had been qualified
the law. Out of 900 registered voters
in this city, no less than 525 neglected to vote on
We claim therefore that the present SYSTEM of
regulating the elective franchise is eumber-
some, and an obstruction to the full and free ex-
,rcise of the peoples rights, and as such ought
% be amended and simplifed, or, what would be
preferable, repealed altogether and a new one
in it's place.