Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-05-25
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5e1istellaneuns &eadiug.
REGISTRATION OF VOTERS. PLAIN TALK.
In some of the counties there is an indispo-
sition on the part of the whites to register, al
though it is well known that those who do not
register cannot vote. It is difficult to believe
that this indisposition will continue, if the
provisions of the Registration law are explain
ed and the advantages of it are made known.
The local committees of the Democratic party
can do no better service to the State than by
visiting tardy voters and removing, as they
can, their doubts and difficulties.
The Registration law was passed in accor-
dance with the mandate of the State Consti-
tuition directing the Legislature to provide
from time to time for the registration of all
electors In Radical times the Democrats,
year after year, demanded that Registration
law be enacted. The failure Of the Radicals
to enact such law was one of the wrongs on
which Democrats laid most stress. 1t was
urged that the Radicals were opposed to regis
tration because registration would prevent, in
large measure, both general repeating and
voting by minors. The Radicals did not want
fair election, and they denied the people the
protection against fraud which the Constitu-
tion had provided for. In enacting the Reg
istration law the State Legislature did what
the Constitution directed.
The great advantage to be derived from the
Registration law is that it Identifies the voter
and fixes his residence, so that it becomes diff
fcult in the extreme for another person to vote
in his name. The voter must exhibit his cer-
tificate of registration, or he cannot vote. In
order that he may pass himself off as B, he
must obtain BIS certificate, and must vote in
the precinct where B lives, in the place where
B. is known and where an imposter is really
sure to be detected This will 60 far to purify
the ballot-box. It is, in itself, asuficient rea-
son for Registration. But the Democrats will
gain in other ways. They will know, in ad-
vance, where the heaviest opposition vote
must be cast, and they can adjust their can
vassing to the strength Of that opposition, put
ting in the hardest work where most converts
are required.
One objection that the white people have to
Registration is that it is troublesome. 1t is !;
our sole protection. Should the white people
disfranchise themselves, by declining to regis
ter, the State, as far as votes CO. will be at the
mercy of the negroes. To the negroes the
right to vote came without labor and without
sacrifice. 1t was conferred upon them as a
free gift. They had not worked for it or suf-
fered for it. To the white man, on the other
hand, the ballot is the badge and pledge Of
civil and religious liberty, for which his fore
fathers fought and agitated for centuries 1t
is the concrete result Of the groupings after
freedom which began hong before King Johns
time. 70 all English-speaking peoples it is
the token that the plea of the English barons,
the civil wars, the revolutions Of 1649 and
1888, the revolt of the American Colonies and
theaccomplishment of American independence
were successive steps in the march to complete
government by the voice OF the whole people.
It is icnonceivable that the white man should
not prize the ballot. The negro will tramp
score Of miles to vote or to register. Is the
ballot less to the white man than the negro :?
1t is hard to believe it, because it is hard to
believe that the symbol Of personal liberty Is
of no concern to the men who were born Tor 1t
and who grew up to it, and to whom it be-
longs with the white skins which set them
apart from other peoples of the earth.
There is a notion that it is undignifed to
ask for ''pass'' to vote. A ''pass" is what
the certificate of registration is called: Let it
be called a ''pass" if you will. Have the white
men of South Carolina forgotten that they
could not leave camp without 'pass' in
Confederate days. There was no shame in
that the pass was evidence that they had a
right to be absent. A tax receipt; in one
sense, is ''pass.n The commission issued to
the officers Of the State government are pass
es, - for the matter Of that. They mean each,
and every one of them, that the bearer has
done something that the law has required him
to do, or that he has been chosenfOr particu-
lar work. There is no humiliation in that.
In truth certificate of registration is some
thing to be priced, not something to be sneer-
ed at. It is evidence that the bearer is quail
flied voter, who understands the law, and, like
good citizen obeys it,
Registration takes time, Of course, and so
does voting. But without voting South Caro-
lima cannot have good government, and with
out registration there is no voting. The reg
istratiOn of voters is needed to check the
fraudulent voting of the Radicals at our cleo
tions. 1t is for the good of the State and the
good of the party. The white man who does
not register, when he understands what regis
tration is for and what it means, is political
anomaly. 1t can be made clear, with little
exertion on the part OF the Democratic COM
mittees, that registration is privilege, not
punishment the surest way to make every
white vote count and prevent it from being
obliterated by the votes Of negro repeaters.-
Charleston Neocs and Courier.