The San Francisco call., 1895-10-15

and second classes. Alameda just escapes
the second class. This amendmehI ID
what is expected to kill the law.
The law provides very elaborate ana
carefully guarded machinery lot pIInatHH
elections. II designates Estate, uioIIloo
and "local' conventions to nomlnaIe Cen4
didates for public offices and proVii9es IND! tHaS
delegates to such conventions OF all parIles
shall be elected at a general primary eleo-
ton to be held on the second Iuesuay IL
July, 1896, and every two years tnereai1eL.
The election day shall be legal no11uay
and 80 proclaimed by the governor; i1 by
is one of the things in the law showing ny
internal evidence that it was drawn as
general law and was carelessly LETT ,un,
Changed when the amendment was tacKeo
on to it. 4 ot
The preparations for and the conduct OF
the election are similar to those H.
scribed in the Australian ballot law. tno Ing
expense, except for ballots, is puDlIc
one. The Election Commissioners cotI-
duct the entire election. In January thiry
voters of all parties must be seIecLe4 II
each precinct and the selections pupllsneu'
Before election names are drawn ior L noL
partisan board of election officers and pup
iished. and refusal to serve is a mlsoe-
meanor. The pay of election officers ls
exemption from Jury duty for one year:
No one NAV vote at such primary eAcePS
citizens registered two years peioIe anS
that in the particular precinct ID "hi0H
they desire to vote.
A ballot-box shall be provided for each
party. distinctive color for the Dy z
inch ballots shall be designated, the party
each voter votes for shall be registered,
chalIengers become officials, and the count
must be public. Many other rlgld rules
are prescribed, A primary electIoh
made as serious thing as general eiec,
ton and the same penalties are prescribed
for offenses against its purity ana Heeooin'
But it is asserted to be special leglsla-
ton, as it regulates and limits the eIectlVe
franchise in portions of the State IN man
ner different from that In the rest OF the
State. 1t is noted by those studying tne
matter that the Supreme Court mas In d
number of decisions construed laws strictly
within the spirit of the constitutional pro-
hibitions of special legislation. The re-
cent decision on the fee bill was one OF
these.
Section 25 of the constitution provides:
The Legislature shall not pass local or special
laws in any OF the following enumerated cases.
Eleventh Providing for conducting cleo
tions or designating the places OF voting, ex-
cept on the organization OF ne" coun-
Thirty y-third-In all other cases where gen.
eral law can be made applicable.
This provision is regarded as decisive.
and it is held by several attorneys to be
plainly evident that laws Win reference 10
the conducting of elections and of the ex-
ercise of political suffrage are laws of gen.
eral nature and must have uniform oper-
alton. N accordance with article l, section
II of the constitution, "All laws of a
general nature shall have a uniform
operation" The constitution also pro-
vides that there shall be no special legisla-
tion regulating county business or the
election of county officers. The present
style of Election Commission was upheld
on the ground that the law creating it was
passed before the adoption of thenew on
stitution.
Another point that is made is that the
Legislature is empowered to classify
counties only for the purpose of regulat-
ing the fees of county officers and it may
en- act laws for counties by classes for any
other purpose. For this purpose the Leg
islature may classify counties by popula-
ton, but the Supreme Court declared in
! Walsh VS.. Bramlet: "Thls provision must
| be made by general and uniform laws uni
formly applicable to all the counties of the
! State.'
Other legal snags are described by attor-
neys, but this point of special legislation
is the main one, and doubling friends of
| the law are confident that the law would
stand but for the amendment which
limits its application to San Francisco and
Los Angeles. That is the situation and
bearing OF the new primary law to date.