The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-04-05
TIE nLrcr1oN CONTEST
Hon. John j. CoyIe's Remarks In tn
House.

MIR. Speaker, being hOnOred by yourself
when placed upon the Election Committee
Of this House and by the Chairman Of that
Committee by being placed upon the sub
committee that went to Crawford county to
investigate this case, 1 feel l owe that Com
mittce and you, sir, an explana.
ton and reason for my name appearing upon
the majority report.
The gentleman from Chester who has pre-.
ceded me has truthfully, honestly and elo-
quently told you the conditions we fouud in
Crawford 90 nty when we visited tina. place.
/ can only concur in everything the gentle
man said and add, that to my mind, the cleo
ton officers were guilty Of such carelessness
and negligence in the manner in which they
cared for the boxes, papers and returns that
it borders upon criminality.
Under sworn testimony we were informed
that the election papers were thrown around
the corners Of the floor, ON the heat register,
on the desks in the prothOnotary s Office and
! given to the different attorneys who took
them when they pleased, The ballot boxes
were not sealed as required by law, simply
locked, aud we were informed by the COM
missiOners' clerk that there were sixty keys
throughout the county that would open
each one Of those boxes. Neither were they
left in the offices Of the nearest justices Of the
peace. as stipulated by the law, but left with
the Judge, inspectors OF clerk Of the board,
some with consiables and some others were
left in the old building used for voting pur'
poses where any one having one Of the afore-
said sixty keys could open those boxes and
change more than enough ballots to alter
the result Of the elections.
Vr-I-na,,l- 9ypttr,gttnHrg aud gpp1ffinng
only one course was left open to US and that
one we pursued, for We refused to accept those
papers, boxes and returns because they were
not properly kept. l think all will agree
with mewhen saw that none OF us would
like our election to depend upon any such
conditions.
notice that the majority and minority re-
ports agree in regard to the legality of the
elections in Athens, Blooming Valley,
Steuben, Rome Spartansburg and the Third
ward Of the borough of Titusville, hence the
only question before us is to decide whether
the people Of Sparta, Pine and Cambridge
townships who voted outside of their dis.
tricts in Spartansburg, Linesville and Craw-
ford 9oroughs respectively were legally cast
or not. The gentleman on my left has said
that the principal rule in the construction OF
any law, fundamental or otherwise, is to find
out the evil that is to be remedied and from
that gather the will of the lawmaker and
thus endeavOr to carry out the object Of the
| law and they have all concluded the object
of this constitutional amendment was to pre-.
vent what is commonly called repeating at
the polls.
Now, sir. l submit that the food gates Of
fraud can never be thrown open under any
way than permit voters to 60 away from
home to cast their ballots. The nearer they
are forced to cast them to their residence
the closer they will be to their immediate
neighbors and friends and therefore the less
likelihood of attempting TO vote more than
once and more Likelihood Of making that
one an honest ballot. Now, sir, this in my
mind and to the minds Of every honest and
reasonable person, clearly proves that the
will and intention of the lawmaker in pass
ing this constitutions provision was to force
every man TO cast his ballot as near his home
as possible and therefore they stated in plain
Anglo Saxon that HE shall have reside
in the election district where he snail offer
to vote at least two months Immediately pre-
ceding election
You will observe, sir, that these words are
mandatory and very emphatic, In the first
place he shall have, not he may reside, and in
the next place, he must reside in the district,
not at, near, about OF around the district.
Moreover it has changed the law from ten
days to two months residence for the purpose
the more Difficult, to repeat or cast an Illegal
bolAuls AllN|AI'AN1 hlA1 Ahb HN'0 6AApb eHN-
and marrow of this whole provision, and the
whole and only object and purpose of this
provision was to insure actual residence
within the district in which he proposes to
vote.
But, sir, the gentleman assumes to be
sL cked at what they term the disfranchise
ment Of the voters of these several precincts
yet they have no fault to find with the fact
that thousands of honest legal voters all over
this Commonwealth are annually deprived OF
their suffrage by that part of this same clause
which fixes the time required to be a resident
to wit, sixty days; but are Mortified at the
other part of this clause which designates the
place within which the votes must be polled
that is, thousands are ~disfranchised by this
very clause which the gentleman says. is in
operativeat very'electiOn, because, perehanee,
they may have honestly changed tueir resi-
denCe within sixty days before the election,
although they may have only moved across
the street. They nay have lived there alltheiI
life time and ff5y -nine days before the election
they may have moved across the street, yet
this very clause that you say is not selfopera,
tive disfranChises them notwithstanding, sir,
there has been no enabling or operating act
passed; hence, sir, if the clause is self-opera-
tive as TO time it is also self-Operative
as to place.
But, sir, since the passage of this clause
y in one thousand eight hundred and seventy
iOur these people had the opportunity TO des'
iguate or have designated "a place for voting
within their district, and if they fail to com.
ply with the law and take advantage of theil
constitutional privilege it is their fault, and
when they thus disiranchise themselves they
deserve no more consideration than the
thousands Of others who disfranchise them
+ selves by failing to register and furnish the
proper proof, OF failing to pay taxes, etc.
Notwithstanding they may have then
ballots In all these cases, they are fraudulent
votes not because the law DISTINGUISHES them
but because they disfranchise themselves by
refusing To carry out the provision Of the law
neither can their acts be justified by the fact
that their original polling place was i~ncorpor
ated with O cityOr borough, for by that act
the lines of their district We're changed, theil
polling places moved out Of their district, auC
as soon as that change was made it was MOI
only their right, out it became their duty q
designate a polling place within their district
in other words, to move the polling place
out ofthe district was just as fatal as to NOV,
the voter out of the district. The district
having lost its polling place had n right tC
acquire by designation a new one just the
same as a voter having lost his residence by
moving out Ola district has a right 10 acquir,
a new one having failed to comply with tn,
/ 1arF a.. tha. a. anaa so on Futu1 nc faf1ur~a -