The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-04-04
is REGISTRY LEGAL ?
Ambiguity in Voorhees, New
Election Law Raises
Grave Doubts.
COURTS CANNOT REVISE THE LISTS
A Conference Of Newark, Elizabeth
and Jersey City Lawyers De-
clare That Tuesdays Pro-
ceedings Are All Right.

| existence when the act became a law,
and shat the men who served Tuesday
| on the District Boards of Registry had
no right to do so. Judge Depue also in
/ clines to the belief that the new law
removes from the Court of Common
| Pleas authority to sit for the revision Oh
| the registry lists, transferring that power
to the County Board of Registry to be
appointed under the new statute:
The voorhees, act, in brief, provides
for the appointment of a county Board
of Elections in each county Of the STATE,
| each board to consist of four members,
two from the party that cast the largest
| number of votes at the last preceding
| election for members of the General AS
I sembly and two from the party casting
the next largest number.
The Chairman of the State Committee
| of each of these parties Is required to
nominate in writing two persons of his
| own political faith in each county in
| June of each year, the persons so nomi-
mated to be appointed by. the Governor,
to serve for one year from August l
NEW BOARDS OF REGISTRY.
Section 4 of the act provides that the
| County Board of Elections in each county
| shall cause to be made a complete regis
try of all legal. voters in their respective
counties, and for that purpcGe shall ap-
point for each election district or polling
precinct in the county four persons, to
be the Board of Registry and Election
for such election district. These boards
must under the law be appointed during
| the first ten days of September of each
year. Pcwe to remove any. member OF
these district boards for failure to per-
form his duties, for .ntoXlcation o. olner
The new law further provides, in section
5, that the authority vested in and the
clerks of municipalities for the appoint
| ment and issuing of permits to agents or
| chalengers are transferred to the Coun-
ty Board Certiiica'ses OF n~ogninasion ror
| to be filed with the County Clerk must
under the provisions Of the new law be
| filed with the County Board of Elections,
which body is also required to attend
the preparation, supply and a distr1bu-
ton of ballots, official envelopes, sta
tionery ana printed pr aii mater It 81, dos ,.e eleetion
the ballots to be a fac-simile of the sig
| nature of the Chairman and Secretary
of the County Beard.
BOARDS COMPENSATION.
The compensation OF the four members
of each District Board of Registry and
| Election is fixed in section Is, which says
| that the men shall receive S. each for
| each day of registry, and for election
day, including the counting Of. the votes
and the delivery of the returns, poll
| book and tally sheet ITO the County Board
| of Elections, the return of the ballot-box
with contents to the municipal clerk, and
| the delivery of the keys and combination
of the ballot-box to the County Board of
Elections, each member is to receive $40.
The law also prescribes that the CoHln-
ty Board shall sit ON the Saturday be-
| fore the election and from 8 O'Clock in
| the forenoon until S o'clock in the after
noon of the the election day for the re-
vision of the registry and to- place upon
the registry. lists n name that may
nave been Improperly or inadvertently
left off, and shall also receive certificates
| voter presenting the certificate to By
| added to the registry list; The measure
then sets forth the penalties to be i'm.
| posed for violation of the provisions of
| the new law.
The concluding section of the law con-
tains a repeater of all acts or parts Of
further provides that this act shall take
THE SOURCE OF WORRY.
It is in the last section that the politi-
| clans find cause for u~neasiness and appre-
| hension.
The general belief was that the act
| would not become operative until next
June, when the new board is to be APP
| pointed. When the many vacancies in
the district boards We're reported Tues
| day morning, in Newark, William r..
Williams, in his capacity Of chairman Of
| the County Board, appointed men to
take the places of the ~absentees.
This led to a question as to the pro-
| visions of the new law, and Judge De-
| pue was appealed to for an opinion. A
certified copy of the law was procured
and Judge Depue, with Judges Child and
| kirkpatrick, held a long consultation over
The Judge agreed hat under section
authority under the law to SIT for the
purpose of revising the registry.
Another complication was presented by
ground that If the old County Board is
legislated out, 50 also are the District
Boards. If this be the case it follows
officers to take charge of affairs ON cleo
tion day. In that case the only remedy
as yet determined wv WOULD Via p Toa a re nIact,d to
! law" which provides for the election of
a clerk and two judges at the opening
by the voters who assemble on the spot.
Then the election could proceed, but the
registry books could not be used except
as guidNS5o f orF ins e%hlll saIIors.
situation incline 70 the belief that there
election, as section 10 takes from the
a q dyIstr I5srfa tn the BALLOTS. o&fRsciaal ems
ei tscRe1 and delegates that duty to the
County Board of Elections. AS the law
provides for the appointment of such
i Guiding section of the bill says that the
act shall take effect Immediately, the
| question of responsibility for the prepa-
ration and distribution of the ballots
and envelopes can only be cleared up by
the courts.
The district boards of registry and
election as they stood prior to the pas
sage CT the act, consisted of six men
each. If the new law is construed as
affecting them it is held as certain that
only four of the six can be legally re-
munerated for their labor of Tuesday.
9TH other two, one Democrat and
one Republican, will get nothing" said
a member of the Republican County Com
mittee last night. That is, unless. the
County Committees decide to pay them.
But ~eighty-seven men at IS per head
would make a considerable item of ex-
pense to either party. and I think .heir
cnances a h,n ySry ~ snm uh,ch hos oausaa
all the trouble, made its appearance
IA the Legislature As a substitute for
ESsnate No. 167, which was introduced on
February 10 by Senator Voorhees,. The
original bill was referred to the Commits
/ tee on Elections, AID never again saw