Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-10-10
The Local Registration Law Of Chat
ham County.

General Assembly, passed February 81,
1s73-which it must be remembered is
entirely local to Chatham county in Its APP
neutrality-suspicious. to vote for Senator
and Representatives and county officers
were required to present themselves
from the first Monday in March to
the first Monday In September to
the Commissioners of Chatham county |
giving their names, ages, occupation and
residences, and producing to said com
missioners receipts for State and county |
tares for the gear preceding the election
whereupOn said applicants should be |
registered. This act was amended in 1874 |
as to the matter of publication OF the
lists and in some other immater;al points.
In 1876 the act was again amended so
that the registration should take place
between the first Monday in March and
the first Monday in June, and this is the
law which still remains in force.
In the constitution of 1877, in act 2,
section 1, paragraph 2, as to who are
legal electors, will be found the following
provision;
every male citizen of the United
States Except as hereafter provided
twenty one years of age, who shall have
resided in this State one year next pre-
ceding the election, and shall have re-
sided six months in the county in which
he offers to vote, and shall have paid all
taxes which may hereafter be required OF
him, and which he may have had
an opportunity of paying agreeably to
law except for the year of the election,
shall be deemed an electOr. PROVIDED,
that no soldier, sailor or marine in the
military or naval service of the United
States shall acquire the rights of an cleo
tor by reason OF being stationed on duty
in this State; and no person shall vote
who, if challenged, shall refuse to take
the following oath or affirmation: do
swear Tor aftirm) that l am twenty-One
years of age; have resided in this State
one year, and in this county six months,
next preceding this election. l have
paid all taxes which, since the adoption
of the present constitution of this State,
have been required of me previous to
this year and which l have had an OPP
portunity to pay, and have not voted
| % chic oIaofiov,
This paragraph of the organic law, it
would certainly seem, annulled all pre-
vious laws of whatever kind and char
acter on the subject of the elective
franchise. 1t is mandatory and explicit
and as binding as any other clause of the
constitution of the State. Upon it rests
the inalienable right of suffrage of those,
aud only those, embraced in the scope of
its provisions, and no power on earth,
neither executive, Legislative nor judi
cial, can alter it one iOta or change it in
one title of its plain meaning-which is
that the person who will, if required,
subscribe to the oath above directed, is
citizen, and as such is entitled to the
right of suffrage.
1t is contended that as the next section
q, par. u says: "The General Assembly
may provide from time to time for the
registration of all electors, but the fol-
lowing classes of persons shall not be
permitted to register, vote, or hold any
office" etc., the constitution recognizes
the principle of registration. This is
true; but the section above stated means
that the Legislature should, or may, pro.
vide for a general registration, which
should, to all intents, and according to
the strict requirements of the cOnstitu-
tional provision regarding the qualifca-
ton of electors, be binding throughout
the State. And, as the Legislature has
not established any such general law, it
is held by many, and we believe justly,
that the local law in operation before the
adoption of the constitution, which
is now being enforced in Chatham
county, has been really repealed
by the section of the constitution
| quoted, and it is therefore uncCnstitu-
tional and void. Only those local laws
not inconsistent with the supreme law
were declared in force in the State by
the article of the constitution declaratory
of what laws should remain in force
after the adoption of the new constltu-
ton.
Now, the question arises, els the local
registration law of Chatham county con-
sIstent or inconsistent with the constitu-
tional enactment regarding electors"
A brief glance at its provisions certainly
shows that 1t possesses many inconsist-
encies.
First, it is inconsistent, because the
test of qualification for registration under
the local law of force in Chatham is
different from that imposed by the con-
stitution. In the former the managers of
election say eff you have paid your taxes
for the year preceding the election you
can register, otherwise not" while the
constitution says eff you have paid the
taxes required of you and which you
have had an opportunity to pay since
the adoption of the constitution up to the
year previous to the election, and possess
the necessary qualifications of citizen
ship, you are an elector and entitled to
exercise the highest right of the citizen"
Again, it is inconsistent with the letter
and spirit of the constitution, because
it DISTINGUISHES many who are entitled
under the constitutional provision of the
State to exercise the elective franchise.
The registration lists open in March and
close in June. Many of our young mon
annually become of legal age after
the books are closed, and are,
in consequence of not being able to
register under the provisions of this local
law. DISTINGUISHED, though at the
time of the election they may possess all
the constitutional requirements of voters.
The glory of our government is found
in the fact that it protects the rights OF
evsrv one of its citizens. There is none
ca humble hut who is individually en-