The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-01-06
TEE "sHoE-sTRING DISTRICT. /"
d General Chalmers Reply to the Attempt
TO Capture His Seat.

Mr.. John *. Lynch, contestlng the sea
Of General Chalmers for the Sixtl
Congressional District, to the Forty
seventh Congress Of the United States
in this case the questions to be settler
are almost entirely questions Of law, in
yoyiBg a construction of the election stat
utes of Mississippi borrowed from othe
States md adopted in this for the first tim
l. 1850, The principal question arises GU
Of the action of the election officers il
Warren county, where 2049 ballots wer
not counted because they differed from tn
tickets prescribed by law. The 137th sec
tiou of the Code Of 1880 provides:
AU ballots shall be written or printe,
with black ink, with a space not less thai
oue-ht,a OF an inch between each name, OF
plain white printing newspaper not NOR
than twJ and one-half nor less than two ant
oue-f0ur-h inches wide without any deyic'
or mark by which one ticket may be known
or Distinguished from another, except thu
words aJ the head of the ticket, but thi
si.eIi not prohibit the erasure, correction o.
, Insertion Of any name by pencil-mark o.
ink upon the face Of the ballot, and a ticke
different from that herein prescribed shal
not be received or counted,
If this statute Is merely directory, ther
the ballots rejected in Warren county cOulC
In the discretion Of the election officers havs
been counted, but if this statute Is manda
----- then neither tie election officers o
Warren county nor any other power couiC
cunt these tickets without a direct viola
en- Of the law of Mississippi. If the law
mandatory and not unconstitutional il
lUsL b. obeyed not only by all election
Ulcers and courts Of Mississippi, but by the
~ ugress % the United States, when de-
ta. mining the election of member from
4 -.issippi chosen under this law.
10 show that this law is not only not I'M
constitutional but simply declaratory o.
~ spirit of the Constitution ITSELF We
t2.6 the following from Judge Cooley, one
tNhe most eminent writers on constitu-
p1nH law in the United states. Judge
t.olev says:
the Ila1e, Of voting in this country at al
General EDITIONS is almost universally by
h'uot. ia Distinguishing feature of this
mode Of wing is that every voter is thus
F1toied tosecure and preserve the most
'mplete md inviolable secrecy in regard
the persons for whom he votes, and thus
@a the hhuer - which under the sys
IN ora. sufrages may be brought to
bar ~tp7n I'm, with view to overbear and
iuumiA ate, ind thus prevent the real ex
pression\ofbubIc sentiment In order to
secure as perfectly rs possible the benefits
anticipated from this system, statutes have
been passed in some OF the States which
prohibit ballots being received or counted
unless the same are written or printed upon
" hite paper, without any mark or figures
thereon intended 10 distinguish one ballot
from another.
After giving .his statement Of the system
Judge Cooley proceeds to use this emphatic
language:
These statutes are simply declaratory OF
= ! constitutional principle that inheres in
< the system of voting 10y fallot, and which
ght to lie iuvoable, whether declared or
:. In the absence of such a statute all
ices by which party managers are en-
f@f0/ed TO distinguish ballots in the hands of
r. voter and thus determine whether he
= 7oting for or against them, are opposed
.he spirit of the Constitution, inasmuch
they tend to defeat the design for which
ting by ballot Is established.
Another distinguished law-writer, Mr..
20. w. McCrary, author of "The Ameri-
Law Of Elections not only considers
II law constitutional, but recommends
: adoption As a means OF preventing
d. In an article published in the North
uean Review, May, lS7I, he says:
szbther-mode oil sLa4L.ufaa elections is
rbattnovn as the tis<ue-ballot fraud and
ofL,s. kindred contriyances, by means OF
RhiOh one person may deposit in the box =,
number Of lots For tlL.. .zs plain, SIM
= y d efN la+Tcmedy wiIl be found in
|qhactmeA of a law prohibiting altogeth-
Sic emp 1 lent of such ballots, and for
ding Il e-election board to count them if
asst TIL can be accomplished either by
- king the size of the tickets to be used, or
" requiring the voter to place his ballots
IL an eny siope containing nothing else, aud
tapd II rbnS IN he officer ant barizad "a ra-
awe it.
Again, Mr.. MoCrary says;
All devices by which the secrecy of the
allot is destroyed by means OF colored pa
pei used for ballots or by other similar
cans are exceedingly reprehensible, and
ether expressly prohibited by statute or
should be dscountenanced by all good
zens american Law Of Elections, D.
!. Peaple " Cicott Is Mich. 2S3.)
There can be no question then that such
avs are constitutional. But it is intimated
hat while such laws are eminently consti-
utional in the North they are unconstitu-
nal in the South because the object and
Deose to be attained il not the same.
Its said the object in the North is TO
anvent Others from distinguishing the
.oter's ballot, and that the object in
bssouth is = prevent the voter from dis
;rguishing his own ballot This we
.onv. But if this were true it should
rake educated and patriotic citizens of the
9th pause before they would 90 further
6arcing ignorant suffrage on the South.
stIlot box is morally stuffed and de-
ehed when one man can cast 500 ballots
N lurh the hands Of 800 ignorant persons
~, vote by mark Such voting is a
aameful travesty upon the elective fran
5ise and if such voting can be checked or
1 United by q rigid enforcement of technical
no honest man should object. If the
II Republican leader of New ork was
e to the general Government when he
the South should not rule the North
ase ''the men who pay the taxes should
who should draw the drafts ON the
sury,' then for the same reason the
should not rule the whites in the
.stheFn States.
TAmakes a law which creates ignorant
isrs and enables him to tax and govern
Through the hands of persons who vote
as he tells them, b has certainly a
IL to prstsct himself by making laws
Ii limit J powers of A to guide and
rol his orant nerd
ut insj that there a, are more colored
Sixth Congressional District of Mis-
nj inclined to be independent voters
Is any other District in the Union.
that they need and demand the protec.
AGAINST the prosecutions of their own
which the secrecy of the ballot provided
~. Jaw gives them. Such laws are
s.su in England and have been enacted
.,enrAny years in the Northern States of
"a Union. The law of Mississippi was
6sR from the laws passed by the Repub>
an party in Ohio and New York. and no
Ia has any right to say it was adopted
n good purpose in Ohio and for a bad
Tpose in Mississippi, or that it should 'be
s forced in one State and not in the other.
Te are pot called on now to discuss either
he wisd'rn or the intent of the law. The
only question for us to determine now Is
W. fher this law is merely directory and
" retsfe may be disregarded or whether it
lndatory and must be obeyed. Nc
in American Laws OF Elections, SEQ
k0l, says:
Is quite clear where the statute distinct
clares that ballots having distinguish
larks upon them shall no be received
sall be rejected. it should be construed
and not ,,,orsalxr 1fcFokr-.-