Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-01-23
DRAFT OF TIE BILL
Providing for a Constitutional ConVen-
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THE MEASURE WAS PREPARED BY
THE LATE JUDGE FERGUSON,
UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE
COMMITTEE APPOINTED B Y
THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF THE
STATE.
At the recent meeting of the Bar AS
ISOLATION a resolution was unanimously
adopted looking to the holding of a con-
vention for the preparation of a new
State Constitution. A committee was
appointed to frame and present to the
Legislature a bill for the purpose. The
late Judge Ferguson drafted a bill, of
which a copy is printed below, and this
bill will be presented to the committee
and will in all probability form tie
basis of any bill which the committee
may propose, if indeed it be not adopted
by the committee just as it is now
framed.
This is a matter in which all the
people of the State are vitality interest
ed. The project has been on the carpet
for a long while, and every year m
thing new presents itself which calls
for a change in the Constitution. Some
of these things could be well enough
provided for by separate amendments,
but their number is becoming so great
that nothing less than a thorough re-
vision of the entire Constitution can
adequately take care of them. The
most satisfactory way in which we can
inform the people of the nature of the
action under discussion is to present
the entire bill, which is as follows:
BILL NO. -.
"a Bill providing for the call of a conven-
ton to frame a new constitution for this
State.
'Be it enacted by the Legislature of West
Virginia.
81. That polls shall be opened at each
place of voting throughout this State, on
the Fourth Tuesday in the month of May
next, for the purpose of ascertaining the
sense of the people of the State, on the
question of calling a convention to frame
a new Constitution for West Virginia.
And all the provisions of sections six to
eighteen, inclusive, and of sections twenty
and twenty-one of chapter three of the
Code of West Virginia, as the same We're
in force on the first day of January, 1891,
so far as they relate to the powers and
duties of each of the officers and per-
sons therein named, and to the holding,
conducting, experimenting, recording, as
pertaining the resu@ of the vote cast at
every such place of voting, and of certi-
flying the same, and to the ssing of
the votes cast in each county, upon said
question, and recording the result thereof
by, the commissioner of the county court,
at each general election held in the State.
shall apply to the polls so taken in each
county, and shall have the same force
and effect in relation thereto, as if the
said sections had never been repealed. And
any officer or person therein named who
shall fail or refuse to perform any duty
required of him by the said sections, or
either of them, pertaining to the polls
hereby required to be taken, shall be gull
ty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not less thar twen-
ty-five nor more than one hundred dollars.
y. The vote taken at the several places
of voting, as required by this Act, shall
be by ballot, and every person voting
in favor of the calling of said convention
shall have written or printed upon his bal
lot the words: For Convention and
each person voting against such call. shall
have written or printed upon his ballot
the words: mo Convention" And moth
Ing else shall be written or printed on said
ballots.
%. As soon as the commissioners of the
county court of any county shall have
Rscertained and recorded the result of the
vote cast in their county, for and against
the call for said convention, they shall
certify and forward the same to the Gov
ernor, and it shall be the duty of the Gov
ernor on or before the fourth Tuesday Of
Jun next to declare the result of the vote
east in the several counties by proclama-
ton published in such newspapers as in
his opinion will give general information
thereof to the people, at least once in each
week for four successive weeks.
4 In case a majority of the votes cast,
as aforesaid, be in favor OF the call for
said convention, an election shall be held
on the first Tuesday after the first Mon
day in November next for the election of
ffty-one delegates TO said convention, as
follows: Twelve Of said delegates shall
be elected from the State at large, and
three delegates shall be elected from each
Senatorial district of the State. And no
voter at said election shall vote for more
than seven of said delegates at large, nor
more than two of said delegates from any
Senatorial district. The said election shall
be held and the result thereof ascertained,
certified and declared under the provis-
ions of said chapter three of the Code of
West Virginia, in force on the said first
day of January, 1891, as aforesaid, and not
under said chapter as now amended. The
election of any delegate to said conven-
ton may be contested, and such contest
shall be commenced, proceeded in and de-
termined, in the manner provided by law
for contesting the election OF a State
Senator
20 The delegates elected to said con-
vention shall assemble at the capitol in
the city of Charleston, on the Third
Wednesday of December next and pro-
coed to the performance of the duty for
which they were elected.
'6. The said convention may elect a
president and secretary. and such other
officers as may, in their opinion, be nee
essary for the proper and effective per-
formance of their duties, and fix their
Conversations They NAV also a1oDt