The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-09-01
CAN WOMAN VOTE HERE
Fron AZ sac Ga.ette

From the SfUfe Gdzette.
Are the women Of New Jersey entitled
to vote?
Ii has long been the opinion of many
thoughtful persons that they are, that
the constitutional right to suffrage is
theirs and that they have been Illegally
deprived of the exercise OF the full priv
ileges of citizenship.
William M. Baird, who was at one
time Speaker of the New Jersey Assem-
bly,, asserts::-'There seems good reason
to think that women " the constitu-
tional right to vote IN this State, ana
that if the question were tested the Su-
preme Court would be forced to so oe-
eide
This opinion is formed upon a review
of the facts, which are as follows:-
On July I'd, 1776, the Provincial Con
gress of New Jersey, in session at Bur
~lington, adopted a Constitution, which
remained in force until 1874.
Section 4, which describes the qualih-
cations of electors for members OF Legis-
lature, says
All inhabitants of this colony of full
age who are worth ESQ, proclamation
money, clear estate. in the same, ana
lave resided within The country in winch
they claim a vote for twelve months i'm,
mediateiy preceding the election, shali
be entitled to vote Ior IA
Council and Assembly, and also Tor an
III DQDilG ~ 1A2A oAA014
by the people of the country at large:
EQUAL SUFFRAGE RECOGNIZED. /,
A committee of the Legislature reported
a bill in 1850, regulating elections, IN
which the words The or she" were APP
piled to voters. Seven years later the
Legislature passed an act to regulate
elections, which contained these proVl-
sionS:-
Sec. 9. Every voter shall openly and
in full view deliver his or her ballot,
which shall be a single, written ticket.
containing the names of the person or
persons for whom he or she votes;
Sec. II. All free inhabitants who are
worth ESQ proclamation money, and nave
resided within the county in which they
diately preceding the election, shall be
entitled to vote for all public officers
which shall be elected by virtue OF this
act, and no person sha1lbe entitled TO
vote in any other township or precinct
than that in which he or she does actu-
ally reside at the time OF the election
The New Jersey women exercised the
right of ballot for thirty-one years. as
the record shows, and in 1890, when the
Presidential campaign was being contes-
red by Adams and jefferson, it was re
corded that females voted generally
throughout the state"
The first interference with this right
was in 1897, when the Legislature on No
yember 10 passed an act restrictil.g the
suffrage to white male citizens"
MADE A BLUNDER.
But there was a serious blunder made
when his radical change IN the consul
tuition was made.
The State Constitution at that time pro-
vided for amendments and required that
before any change could go into force it
successive Legislatures, and the ratifl-
cation thereof by the vote OF the people
at a special election.
No attempt was made to fulfill. these
constitutional requirements anu make the
amendments of binding force.
When the present Constitution of New
Jersey was adopted in 1874 the word
male was incorporated in the Qualifi-
But even this did not legalize the for
mer illegal act of the Legislature.
Women had the right of equal suffrage
with men by the original Constitution,
and that expressly stated that no change
could be made save by an amendment
being passed through two successive
Legislatures and submitting it to the peo-
pie, which then meant the qualified vot-
srs, both male and female.
WITHOUT PROPER SANCTION.
No such amendment was submitted to
the qualified voters of 1907, nor was the
Constitution of 1874 so submitted there
fore it is commended that the action of the
1907 Legislature was arbitrary, ana has
never been constitutionally ratified, and
the present State Constitution was i'm
posed upon the people without the con-
sent of a majority of the qualified vot-
ars,' men and women.
A maxim of law is that no class OF peo-
pie can be en~franchise or disfranehised
without constitutional action, and as no
such action was taken in New Jersey,
it is maintained by Unequal s~uffragists
that women are equally voters in this
State.
Alexander Wilder, of Newark, when
asked for an opinion on this subject,
said, after a review of the case:
"If | have understood the facts cor
rectly, the statute restricting suffrage,
being in contravention of the Constitu-
ton, was of no binding force when en-
acted.
Il doubt, too, whether it was valid to
make any amendment which could ope-
ate to disfranchise any citizen or divest
any citizen of a right in possession"