Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-07-12
THE REGIsrRATxoN LAWS.

The supreme court of the State of Wis
consin has recently rendered an important
decision that affects the rights of every
citizen of that State, and if based upon cor
rect legal premises and receives like ju-
dicial determination elsewhere, will have an
equal effect upon the citizens in every State
in the Union. About a year ago citizen of
Milwaukee, who had refused to register pre-
vious to the election, offered his ballot to the
judges of election, but they refused to accept
it. He thereupon brought suit against the
judges, and the case ultimately reached the
supreme court, where it has now been de-
cided, all the judges conourring. They hold
that the registration Law passed by the leg
islature is unconstitutional and therefore
null and void because of the fact that the es-
sential qualifications of every voter are
fixed by the constitution, and these cannot
be varied by the legislature except by means
of a constitutional amendment to be after
wards ratified by the people in the manner
prescribed in the organic law of the State.
After reviewing the case thoroughly in all
its aspects the court says:
The elector possessing the qualifications pre-
| scribed by the constitution is invested with the
constitutional ight to vote at any election in
this State. These qualifications are explicit,
exclusive and unqualified by any exceptions,
provisos or conditions, aud the constitution,
either directly or by implication. confers no
| authority upon the legislature to change,
| impair, add to or abridge them in any respect.
law which says that person. although hav-
ing all the constitutional qualifications of a
voter, shall not be entitled to vote at the cleo
| ton unless his name has been previously regis
tered. makes qualification additional to those
named in the constitution. The legislature
has no authority to pass such law, which is,
therefore, invalid.
The constitutions of all the States of the
Union are almost identical with that of
Wisconsin in this respect. They all pre-
scribe the qualifications of electors, and
if it is correct legal proposition that legis-
lstures have no right to impose additional
restrictions upon the exercise of the suffrage
in Wisconsin, it is equally correct
in other States of the Union, and
if the question was properly
presented and impartially adjudicated, it is
quite probably that the same conclusion
would be reached.
A great many mon of all parties have
long doubted the utility of the registration
laws. As at present enforced they are but
slight if any protection against illegal vot-
ing. The practice is almost
invariable wherever these laws
are in force. Whoever applies for
registration is accommodated with but little
inquiry as to his right to vote. When the
election day comes around the judges &C
cept the votes of all whose names are on the
register without question. By this means
many Illegal votes are recorded without
challenge. 1t is not an unusual thing for an
unprinoipled candidate to procure the regis
tration of large numbers of fictitious names.
and on the day of the election their repeat
ers are enabled to vote not only for them
selves but for numbers of men who have no
existence. Thus instead of preventing the
casting of illegal votes, the registration laws
in reality encourage and protect these frauds.
If all men were honest and vigilant in the
discharge of their duties as citizens, regis
tration laws would do no harm, nor would
they do any good. AS it is they do little
good and considerable harm. 1t is not for
the interest of either party that they be re-
tanned upon the statute books. The Repub-
lican papers will oppose the abolition of the
laws because they have proved of greater
benefit to them than to their opponents. 1t Is
noticeable, however, that the court that has
taken the initiative in the matter of decIar-
ing the law in Wisconsin unconstitutional is
composed of Republicans with the sole ex-
ception of the chief justice. That party is,
therefore, disarmed from criticizing the de-
cision from partisan standpoint.