Daily Republican., 1880-01-23
Is 1t Assessment or RegistratiOD,
or Both?

To register is to record names for
certain purpose no matter what thi
purpose may be. The registry Of ht
tsl is to show who arrives and upo
what day they arrived so that account
may be more easily adjusted and Sci
tied. Aregistry Of voters is for tn
same purpose, and as it is necessary i
all well regulated governments tina
there should be fund provided to pa
the expenses of such governments, whs
is more natural than to suppose tina
those wko register for the purpose {
voting should also dc some Of the ts
paying Were the assessment laws G
the State of Delaware entirely removes
from any right which they conferred t
exercise the elective franchise then al
assessment would not be strictly a rsg
istration law for the purpose of quail
flying to vote. Thousands Of people il
Delaware seek out the assessor to ge
their names put upon the record, anC
what for : That they may have the
privilege of paying taxes? No, bu'
that they may have the privilege o.
voting when the elections are held. In
All, .ao,a AZ ossass,,.of of xo.ou, :,
strictly registration for no other pur.
pose than to qualify to vote, and
thea can be no doubt that in
spirit such registration comes
within the act of Congress which
wisely provides that the law is only ap-
plicable where this assessment or regis
trstion carries with it the right 20 vote,
and hence in referring to the law the
words, " if such there be-" are very
opportunely inserted. In some States
there is not even an assessment or a
registry law that qualities to vote. There
may be an assessment for taxes for State
purposes on real estate, or something
of that kind, but v hich confers no fran
chise privileges, and no registry of vo-
ters being provided for, the United States
Statutes may very properly provide for
supervision of the registr " if such
there be- But Mr.. Higgins in his
strong argument before the court, show
ed cOnclusively to every uni iased man
OF intelligence that Delaware was not
one of the States which had failed to
provide for the strict,s kind Of a reg
istr&tion of voters, though that regis
tration may be called an assessment.
That this assessment carries with it the
right to vote, and the pains and
penalties for illegal voting being
so carefully provided for shows
that the laws of Delaware are more par
tieuar in specify ing the exact status
Ofla voter than are the laws OF States
where registrations are entirely separate
from the ass sssment laws. 1t is fatal to
the able and ingenious arguments of
Messrs. Bates and Gray that the assess
ment laws carry with them we'll defined
restrictions for qualifying voters which
thereby IL axe the law as well regis
try of voters as an assessment Of taxes.
1t will require sounder argument than
any that has yet been adduce to show
that the United States Statutes do not
cover all State laws which qualify a
vote for Congressman. This is Just
exactly what was intended by the law,
and as no person in Delaware can vote
at any election at which Congressman
is voted for without first having been
assessed and have paid county and
poor tax which was assessed at least six
months before the election, there is ex-
actly where the qualification for voting
comes in at, and that is exactly what is |
intended by the United States laws
shall be supervised. Had the trainers
of the laws of Delaware never intended |
that this should not be a registry oil
voters, there would have been no allu-
sions in the law in regard to the quail
fications of voters. That registration
of voters is made six months, three
months, or even perhaps ten days be-
fore an election, does not alter
the circumstances, it is the qualifying
to vote tor Congressman is what the
law providing for Supervisors intends
shall be done. The double aim of the
election laws in Delaware should not
be urged as a bar to the Supervisors in
tended and provided fer, and the cum
broHs and intricate workings of the
law only makes supervision the more
necessary. The registration of voters,
or rather the assessment OF voters com
meuces sometimes a year before the
election, the time for commencing being
optional with the assessor, so that lie
has his list of assessments ready by the
18th OF January to post in the respective
districts, and on the last Saturday in
January he sils at a certain specified
central location to correct errors and to
Assess other voters who had not previ-
ously applied. Thoulh thers can be
no doubt that Supervisors had they l