The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-28
TO WEED 0UTlLLEGAL VOTERS
REGISTRARS TO BEGIN HEARING
EVIDENCE THIS MORNING.

Names in the First District List.
Attorney General TerreII's Opin-
ion on a Question Submitted by
Secretary ChandIer-COnstitut
al Amendments to BE Voted on at
the Coming Election.
When the registrars begin to make their
decisions the politicians will howl. 1t is
a safe bet of 10 to l that before night
the politicians on both sides will be kick
ing.
The registrars will begin their work of
sitting out the Illegal voters in the city
court room at o'clock this morning. 1t
is likely that there will be some rich de-
velopments when the investigation gets
under way. over 100 voters, whose right
TO be on the registry list has been ques-
| toned, and about three times as many
witnesses, have been summoned to appear
before the registrars to-day In addition
a big crowd of the strikers of the two
factions, having nothing else to do, win
be on hand This means that the court
house will be crowded.
Attorney General Terrell has rendered
an interesting opinion on the subject Of
the registration lists, to be furnished to
| managers of elections, and upon the right
| of voters residing in other militia dis
tricts, to vote at the county site precinct.
| The opinion was secured by Hon. Allen
d. Gambler, secretary of state AS Chat
ham county has a different system of vot-
| ing from any other county in the state
all the voting here being done at the
! court house, the opinion does not have
! the same application here as 1t does IN
! the other 1856 counties of the state.
The information contained is OF interest,
| however, and the opinion is as follows.
state of Georgia. Attorney Generals Of
| nee, Atlanta, Sept %, 1S96.-Hon. A d.
| Chandler, Secretary of State, Atlanta Ga:
Dear Sir-Replying to your request of this
! date for an official opinion as to what
| voters may vote at the county site pre-
| cinct under the provisions of the general
| registration law, l submit the following:
| doubt my authority to give you an Off
| cial opinion upon this question, as under
! the law the official opinions of the at
| torney general are confined to the COVER
| nor and state house officers on questions
| connected with the several departments
Of state, but on account of the general in
| terest manifested on the question in a
| large number of letters received by me
| lately from many counties in the state
| upon this subject, and the apparent con-
| fusion which exists in the public mind as
! cinct, which you state is indicated by num-
| erous letters to you, I have thought best
| to waive the question of official authority
| and investigate the matter, and give you
| my conclusion.
! There are several errors in the general
registration law as printed in the acts of
| 1894, and it may be well to carefully note
| these. BY comparing the printed act with
| the enrolled act, of file in the office of
Secretary of State, which Is the law of
| force, the following errors appear: The
| word Hereinafter" in the seventh line of
section 3, should be read "hereinbefore,"
| the word mot should be inserted before
| the word Established in the eighth line
| of section 10, the word for in the eigh-
| teenth line Of the same section should
read of" and the words precinct at the"
should be inserted before the word court
| house" in the twentieth line.
Under these two sections. 9 and TO- it is
the duty of the county registrars at or
before the hour appointed for opening the
polls to furnish the managers of the cleo
tion at each voting precinct in the county
| one or more printed or clearly written
copies of the list of registered voters for
the militia district or city ward in which
the voting precinct is situated, and in adj
dition thereto they are required to furnish
the managers of the county site precinct
the list of registered voters i'm each militia
district or city ward in which no election
precinct is established and opened, and
also to furnish the managers al the county
site precinct a list of the registered voters
of each and every militia district in the
county, the voting precinct of which is
situated OUTSIDE of an Incorporated town
| Section 10 provides that every person
! whose name is upon the list of registered
voters may vote ut the election precinct
Of the militia district or city ward in which
he resides. also that a person may vote at
the county precinct If no election precinct
aH,I1s a-n,s
trict or city ward in which he lives, and
also that a person may vote a the county
site precinct If he resides i'm militia dis
trct in which the election precinct for
same is situated outside of an Incorporated
town, in the latter instance the managers
are required to administer an oath to the
en'ec, that the person has not voted else
where in that election. Yours very truly
J. NJ. Terrell. Attorney General
The local political situation has so en-
crossed the attention of voters here that
many of them are not aware that there
are two constitutional amendments
to be voted upon The frs.
of these amendments is Of especial import
ance. This is an amendment to article g.
section 2, of the constitution, and proposes
to increase the number of judges Of
the supreme court from three to six. and
to elect the three additional judges by the
people. The Importance of this amend
ment is not generally realized because only
a small proportion Of the public is directly
; interested in the work Of the supreme
court, but it is a fact well known to all
having business with the court that it is
7 over-burdened with work and that the
expedition of business before it is greatly
delayed on this account. The addition of
three judges to the court would greatly
relieve the present three judges the prep
aration of the elaborate opinions which
are required of the court being in itself
alone almost sufficient he TINA
OF three judges. The proposition to
elect the judges by the people instead
Of by the legislature, gives the amend
] ment a strong popular claim 4 similar
amendment was submitted two years ago
failed TO receive a majority of all the
votes cast, as required by law. 1t did
not contain the provision for popular
election, however
The second amendment Is to paragraph
/, 1, section >, article of the cons titution
and proposes to elect the state school
commissioner by the people, instead of
LOU. tea - g..