Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1886-12-03
Regarding Registration.

III ilo lCSCul w tuO NiadS oui )
Judge Stone called their attention to the
section of the registration law which di-
reefs the registration officers to strike from
! the voting lists the names of all persons
who are personally known t" the officers,
or who shall be satisfactorily proved to
them by the oath or affirmation of a con-
petent witness to be dead or to have re-
moved from the election precinct or dis
trict in which their names are registered,
AID to have acquired residence csc
here, and directed them to inquire whe-
Their any names had been Improperly
stricken off by the officers.
The point Intended 10 be emphasized
by the Judge in this connection, we sup
pose, was that the officers are only author
lied to strike off voters on account of
death or removal, either upon their own
knowledge of the fact, or the information
of third persons verified by their oath OF
affirmation. In this particular, as far as
we can learn, the registration officers have
been very careful, and consequently the
grand jury found no presentnent against
any of the officers. But We observe that
some of ocr -erub'ican frieods have CO.
deavored to construe the above reference
of the Court into the absurd proposition
that it is Incumbent upon the registration
officers in all cases to ascertain affirmative.
y whether the party who las removed
from the Cocnty, or State, has actuGly &C
quired a voting residence elsewhere, be-
fore he IS stricken from the voting lists in
this county.
1t is one of the general principles of law
which has been more than once folly re-
cognized by Judge Stone in his registra-
ton decisions, that party who removes
from this State for the purpose Of pe.ma-
nently locating outside of the State, loses
his qualifications as a voter in this State,
ipso ,tacto and Immediately. He is dis
qualified by the first article of the Sta, e
constitution, which limits the elective
franchise to citizens of the United States,
who have been residents Of the Site for
one year, and of the county in which he
offers to vote for six months next pre-
cediDg the election. The moment that a
voter quits the State with such inten.
tious he loses his riehls as a voter of Mary,
land, aud thergh be might roam abou,
fror, bafa to 70 e. he l.. e.
without ever acqo ing vo,irg residence
anywhere e sc, his disqualified 'on would
exist all the same; and the first article oil
the constitution, which is expressly, by the
same twentieth section of the res:st5atio
law, made the primary rdle OF the re.
trars' action would require that Officer to
strike the name of such person from the
voting list of Maryland.
The soc application which can he given
to the clause of the law referring to the
acquiring of residence elsewhere is in the
case of removal to another county of hi,
State. In that case the spirit of the con.
stitution seems to provide that a voter re
moving to arober county within SIX
months preceding an election, shall retain
his right to vote in the county from which
he removed until he shall have acquired a
voting re:iderce in the cornty to which
he has -emovtd. That clause OF the re-
eistration law seems to have beel incor-
porated solely for he purpose of covering
this last relt'ore! point. This is the
only intelligent construction OF the regis
trat 90 law, and the oce we believe which
it has gee ally zee we'd throue bout the
State, bv the coats I'd the officers.