The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-12-11
THE WARREN COUNTY MUDDLE.
LUCID AND FULL STATEMENT OF
THE LAW AND THE FACTS.
ny Martin MARSHALL, Chairman ~ the
Executive Committee Of the sixth
district.


The action of the Commissioners of Elc
ton of Warren county, Mississippi, in +
flsing to count, ut the recent election,
number of ballots because they were II,
such as were prescribed by the law of tn
State, having been denounced by the r,
publican organs, condemned by some
the so-callcd Independent press, and eve
dsapproved by some Democratic papers
under misapprehensiOn, as | believe, {
the law and the facts, and these unfavol
able expressions having cmboldened tn
partzan Republican District Attorney {
the United States for this District of thi
State to prosecute by an illegal i4torma
tiOa the Commissioners for enforcing tn
law, and the Chairmen of the Democrat
Congressional and County Executive Com
mittees for advising them as to that law,
sense of justice to these gentlemen, as wei
rs desire that our party and people ma.
not be unjustly affected in the public esti
nation, nor the right of Gen. Chalmers Il
his seat in Congress prejudiced by thi
false clamor, impels me to call attention Il
the true state of the case.
The Revised Code 1850 of this State pro
vidcs by section 1871 as follows:
49, All ballots shall he written, or printed, il
black nix with n space OF not less than one-ffth o
| an inch between each name, on plain white new!
printing paper, not more than two and one-hali mol
| less than two and one-fOurth inches WIDE without
any device or mark by which one ticket may bt
known or distinguished from another, except the
words at the head of the tickets, but this shall not
prohibit the erasure, correction or insertion OF any
name by penc-mark Or ink upon the face Of the
ballot and ticket different from that herein pre-
scrbed shall not be received or counted.
That was and is the law of this State, and
the right of the State to regulate the eXcr-
else by its citizens +t-ttI22-2lective franchise
in this manner is not questioned by writers
on this subject, irrespective of their polit-
zeal opinions, or theories of the scope or the
construction of the Federal and State Con-
situations. No one ever denied the power
of the State to prescribe the qualifications
of voters and to regulate the manner OF
exercising the SO-called "right of suffrage
municipal otliccrs-thc only limitation upon
that power being the fifteenth amendment
to the Constitution of the United States,
which prohibits the denial or abridgment
of the right of any ''citiZens of the United
States" whatever that may mean)-to
vote son account of race, color, rpreNious
condition OF scrvitude." And this power
extends to Congressional elections, for by
the second section of the first Article of
the Constitution of the United States it is
.n, hat in n oil nf n.
tativd in Congress ''the electors in each
State shall have the qualifications requisite
for electors Of the most numerous branch
of the State Legislature; and by the fourth
section Of the same Article, it is provided
that the manner of electing members of
Congress ''shal be prescribed in each State
by the Legislature thereof" thus apply
ing the State laws to the election of
members of Congress.
This election law is no invention of
"Southern ingenuity" In adopting it our
Mississippi solons simply borrowed from
our Yankee self-constituted schOOlmasters
A law to this effect was first made, Ibelieye
by Massachusetts in 1919, afterwards adopt
ed by number of Northern States, and
among others by the great President man.
ufucturing State of Ohio, rs the following
from the OHIO Code of 1880, passed, | be-
lievc, by the very men who elected General
show:
2glS All ballots shall be written on plain white
paper, or printed, with black ink, with space Of
InSGt between each
name, plain white news printing paper, not
more than two and one-half nor less than two and
three eigths inches wide, without any mark or de-
vice by which one ticket may be known or dstin.
guished from another except the words at the head
Of the tfksf o &n / he at the polls or disri
1@te TO any elector or vote any ballot written OF
printed contrary to the provisions thereof; but
this shall not be considered prohibit the erasure
correction, or insertion OF any name by pencil
mark with ink upon the face Of the printed
hallot.------
1t is apparent that our statute is taken
from the Ohio statute above quoted. Our
Statute is merely an improvement upon the
above in yerbiage and grammatical con-
struction, and more liberal as to the width
of the ticket and more just in the penalty
against illegal tickets, tO-wit: loss of the
vote, instead of the punishment of the
printer and voter.
The policy of such laws is questionable !;
and it is the legitimate function of the
press to discuss that question and by its
mighty influence upon public opinion decide
whether this law shall remain or be re-
pealed.
But it should be borne in mind that such
Il law is declared by some of the ablest jur-
lists and purcst publcists (the distinguished
Judge Cooley among the number, to be in
furtherance of the end for the attainment
of which the ballot was resorted to the
secret expression of each voter.
Such law was first enacted in Massachu-
sets to prevent the owners of mills, fac
tories and workshops, and other employers
from OVRi8g the votes of their poor work
men, operatives or laborers.
That this is a worthy motive and in ac-
cord with the spirit of our popular institu-
tons cannot be denied. A similar neces-
sity exists among us for protection against
like influences, for on the one hand the
negroes may, by the use of marked tickets,
be voted cn-masse by their Loyal League
lOlllICdl HldSlcTS, Ut Ol lnc OlHCT, any
voter may be spotted and compelled to
vote in the way his employer or landlord
dictates, or else suffer the consequences of
Gsobliging them.
Another benefit which may be derived
from such law, is the removal of the facil-
ity for fraud. 1t may sometimes be easy
to take out of the ballot box handful of
tickets at Il grab, if they are marked so as
to be known or distinguished, whereas if
they are not so marked it would be neces-
'ary to the preparation of this fraud that
each ballot be separately opened and read,
4 thing requiring time and likely to be de-
tccted.
1t is certain, however, that the officers of
election had nothing to do with, nor were
they responsible for the policy of the law.
They were sworn to execute it as il was,
md not as they might think it ought to be,
md it was their duty under the law
not to receive, or If received, not to count
my ballot different from this one prescribed |
N section one hundred and thirty-seyen. |
They did not count many because they