Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-04-21

Utah Commissioners this afternoon. A
will be seen, a new form of oath is pre-
scribed and the whole document is on,
of importance to the voters of the Ter
ritory:
CIRCULAR
FOR THE INFORMATION OF REGISTRATION
OFFICERS.
|.
The recent decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States makes i
necessary for the registration officers in
Utah to be informed as TO the points de
cided, so far as they relate to the dis
charge of their duties. Among the points
decided are the following:
l. The registration officers are required
to exclude from the registry lists every
man who is polygamist or bigamist, and
every person cohabiting with more than
one woman. They are also to exclude
every woman cohabiting with any of the
persons described as aforesaid.
2. A bigamist (or polygamist) in the
sense of the eighth section of the Ed
munds law is a man who has entered into
the state of plural marriage, at any time
in the past, and still maintains that rela-
tion-it not having been dissolved by
death, divorce, or "other effective man
ner, and he is still polygamist, even
"though he restricts his cohabitation to
but one woman"
3. If man has married several women
and he has died, the surviving women (if
otherwise qualifed) are entitled to be
registered
4. If, in such case, all the wives, or
all but one, have died or been divorced,
the man is entitled to be registered.
5. The first or legal wife is not entitled
to be registered, if at the time she offers
to register she cohabits with a bigamist
or polygamist, (unless the other wives
are dead or divorced nor is she to be
registered, if she cohabits with a person
cohabiting with more than one woman.
6. The Acknowledgement operates upon
the existing state and condition of the
person, and not upon past offense. 1t
is, therefore, not retrospective. He alone
Is deprived of his vote, who, when he
offers to register is then in the state and
condition of a bigamist or polygamist, or
is then actually cohabiting with more
than one woman. But a bigamist or
polygamist is such a person as is de-
scribed IN paragraph two above, (Which
see). The registration officers are re-
quired under the law to exclude all
illegal voters, and the different methods
by which this may be effectuated are
thus set forth in the opinion OF the Su-
preme Court:
'The Act of March %, 1882. created
the additional Disqualification which
have been mentioned, and which, of
course, are not met by the oath as pre-
scribed by the Territorial Act OF 1878.
and it is not consistent with the express
provisions of the Act of Congress, that
every person willing to take the oath in
the form prescribed by the Territorial
Act shall be permitted to register as
a voter. Either the oath itself must be
regarded merely as model, to be modi-
fed by the operations of the Act of Con-
greSs, SO as to meet by appropriate de-
mails the several new disqualifcations
created by it, and then to be taken with
the prescribed effect of emitting the per-
son subscribing 1t to register as q voter
without other proof; or else the effect
Of the Act of Congress is to limit
the class entitled to take the oath in the
form prescribed by the Territorial Act,
with the effect thereby given to it, to
hose who are not subject to the disquali-
locations which the Act of Congress i'm
poses. The existing laws of the United |
States and of the Territory, under which |
he election officers are bound to perform
heir duties, must include the Act itself, |
which provides for their appointment and |
ietines their duties, and if they have not |
he right to exact an oath different |
rom that, the form of which is given in
he Territorial Act, they must otherwise
atisfy themselves that persons offering
Q register are free from the disqualifica-
ions defined in the Act of Congress. In
long so, they are, OF course, required to
xercise diligence and good faith in their
and are responsible in damages
or reflections made without reasonable
ause, or maliciOusly."
II.
In order to coaform to the requirements
the Acts of the Territorial Legislature,
4 reference to the registra ton of voters.
nth the Act of Congress as construed bv
ne Supreme Court, and also to secure
of action, the following sug-
estons are made as to the mode of pro-
edure:
l. The county registration officers
Mould forthwith procure from the clerk
the county court of their respective
ountles the last preceding Registry list :
file in his Office, and by himself or !
equity, on the second Monday in Nav, s
roceed to the revision of the same. and
r this purpose visit every dwelling house
each precinct and make careful inquiry
any person whose name is on this list
is died, or removed from the precinct or
otherwise disqualified as a voter of
oh precinct, and if so, to erase the
me therefrom or whether any qualified
ter resides therein whose name is not t
his list; and if SO, to add the same 0
ereto. [
The following forms of affidavits are n
ggested for use in the above cases, and p
csc may be changed by the Registra- Ii
N officers, upon whom the Supreme n
urt decides the responsibility rests, by Il
asure or otherwise, if in their Judgment j
Y change is required, keeping in view fc
2 fact that all polygamists and others "
'qualified by the Act of Congress must fc
excluded: Fl
FORM OF OATH OF MANI al
yST TERRITORY aI OF UTAH, SIS, IT, IT,
,......; .......... being first duly Iii
)rn Tor afirmed) depose and say that 1 am n
T twenty-one years of age, and have resided VI
he Territory of Utah for six months. and In W
precinct of ......... one month inn W
diately preceding the date hereof, and am ia
atlve born, or naturalized, las the case NAV =
cltlzen of the United States, and tax Ill
er in this Territory; and do further swear W
afhrm) that am not a bigamist nor a poly NJ
1lst; and that do not cohabit with more \.
u one woman. Ill
Inscribed and sworn TO before mothis
........ day of ........lS S