Daily Republican., 1879-09-12
The Power Of .n.pectors.

There can bs nv d0uOt that the du
ties OF inspect rs Of elections are yer.
much misconstrued into improper chan
nsls for partisan effect. and when thi
is the case il will be- seen a. a glance
that the law gives too much latitude Il
inspectors, who seem TO think that 1t il
thei only tyt K in all the votei
they possibly can OF their own party
and exclude all they possibly can q
their opponents. The section of the
law which governs the qualifications o.
voters starts of very plain, is very ex
plicit and apparently fair, but before
the paragraph ends there is consider
able weakening which leaves every
thing after all to the discretion of the
inspector in regard to the qualifications
Of q voter. Ii the inspector be an hon,
est man thsrs Is no need Of binding
law, and il he be dishonest he has II
in his power to corrupt the ballot to
such an extent that the whole election
is vitiatsd by fraud. The easy manner
in which the election laws are violated
by inspectors who place but little value
upon their obligation to act impartially
and fair, leads TO the selection Of men to
hold the elections who it Is known will
stop at nothing to achieve q partisan
triumph. In order to show what is re.
quirsd Of voter before he deposits his
vote, and to show the duty Of the judge
or inspector in taking the vote, or re.
jecting It II he sees proper, we quote
the following paragraph from the law
in tho case:
"If a vote be objected to its admis-
sion or rejection shall be determined
according to the opinion Of majority
OF the judges but either Of the judges
may require the inspector TO admins.
ter to person claiming to vote whether
he has paid a tax or not, the following
oath or affirmation: "You do solem1ly
swear (or afirm) that yeu are of the
age of twenty -one years, and not ar
rived to the age Of twenty-five years."
and to any person Offering to vote on
the ground of having paid a tax and
being otherwise qualified, according to
the constitution, the following cath or
affirmation: "You do solemnly swear
(or afirm) that you are of the age Of
twenty-five years, and that you at this
time reside in this hundred, and that
you have not voted and will not vote on
this day in any other hundred, and
that you have resided in this county
one month and in this State one year
next before this election, and that you
have within two years, paid a county
tax which was assessed at least six
months before this election )" any per
son refusing to take such an oatn or
affirmation, so requir d, shall not
permitted to vote; but no person shall
bs required or permitted to take either
Of the said oaths or afirma-
tions If the judges or a majority
Of them, shall from their own knowl
edge, or the circumstances appearing,
consider that such person is not emit
tied to vote." The plans laid down fo'
qualifying voters are fully set forth in
the foregoing quoted section of the Law,
and We find that there is not a word
said in that section about producing q
tax receipt as evidence that voter has
paid taxes, before his ballot could be
accepted. OF course the best proof
that can be produced of the payment
OF taxes or any other debt is the receipt,
but owing to the possibility of receipt
becoming mislaid or easily lost the law
never required the production Of re-
ceipt as the only evidence Of mans
right to vote, and we contend that no
inspector Of elections has any right to
refuse the vote of we'll known citizen
who is known al~ ays to have paid his q
taxes with conscientious regularity.
simply because he forgets to bring t
his tax receipt along with him t
to the polls, and we further think that e
a law is useless that does not punish l
an inspector that refuses to take the
vote Of man of property, ard kn ,wn
responsibility and high standin,, II he /
is viii ing to be qualifei,a as the law We
have quoted provides that he shall be
II his vote is objected to. In years gone
by there was no difficulty in holding I
elections Ia this city, because the per- '
Sons holding them we're men who =
thought more of allowing honest voters :.
10 vote than of keeping their votes out,
and allowing boot-blacks, FOUNDERS and :.
rep tr' to fill up the ballot box with =
r I'D en-. bal OTIS. At the election ;.
,olls, We tern district, Fifth ward, at y
he r, cent city election, it was deter.
mined that nobody could vote unless :"
hey had tax receipts. As a cons, quence "
,ood citizens of property, who were
,nown to have paid taxes regularly aud Al
for q quarter or half O.
'entury weie turned away wi b. "
mt voting bpcausp III " bod 1,