The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-01-07
QUALIFICATIONS
FOR ALL VOTERS
a Proposed Constitutional
Amendment.
DRAWN BY Mr.. WINSTON
MODELLED AFTER THE LOUIS.
lana LAW.
BUT WITH SOME MATERIAL CHANGES
Must pa Able to Read and Write, or Have $500
Of Property, Have Been Able to Vote
Prior to January 1867 or Have
Been Union Soldier.
Been a Union Soldier.
host imnnrtant bill 81

S' " souuaiy ioUf VI ttdVc
Been Union Soldier.
host important bill so far intro
in the Legislature, and one that
will perhaps cause most interesting dis
cussion, is IAN Act to amend the Consti
tuition of North Carolina, in regard to
suffrage" introduced yesterday in the
House by Mr.. Winston, of BERTHE, and
referred to a special Committee on Elec-
ton Law. 49,
1t Is modelled after the louisiana law
but has some important points of differ.
ence. 1t provides for constitutional
amendment to be voted on in May 1900
at a general election, the time for State
elections being changed to that date. II
has an educational qualification, or in
lieu of that property qualification
$500; in lieu of both these qualifications
it admits to registration all people who
voted in the United States as far back
as January /. 1867, or who prior
to that time was regularly enlisted
soldier in the army of the United States.
or son or grandson of any such persons
not less that 81 years old at the date
of the adoption of this constitution. Ii
is also provided that every voter must
have paid his poll tax for two years pre-
vious to the time at which he offers to
vote, and be able to show his tax receipt
in proof thereof
The full text of the bill, with all its
provisions is as follows:
The Geenral Assembly of North Caro-
lima do enact
Section. That Section % of article
OF the Constitution of North Carolina
be, and the same is hereby repealed.
Section 2. That article of the Con-
stitution of North Carolina be, and the
same is hereby repealed, and in its
stead shall be substituted the following
article or said constitution and sections
thereof:
ARTICLE VI.
SUFFRAGE AND ELIGIBILITY TO
OFFICE.
Section /. Qualifications of an Elector:
Every male person born in the United
States, and every male person who has
been naturalized, twenty-one years old,
or upwards, who shall have been an
actual bona fide resident in the State of
North Carolina for two years and
possessing all the qualifications set out
and required in this article and its
various sections, shall be entitled to
vote at any election, by the people in
the State, except as may be herein
otherwise provided.
Section 2. Every person, qualified to
vote, shall have been an actual bona
fide resident of the State of North Caro-
lima for two years, of the county one
year, and of the precinct, ward or other
election district, in which he proposes to
vote, six months next preceding the cleo
ton; provided, that removal from one
precinct, ward or other election district
to another, in the same county, shall
not operate to deprive any person of
the right to vote in the precinct, ward, or
other election district from which he
has removed, until six months after
such removal. But no person that has
been convicted, or confessed his guilt in
open court upon Indictment. of the fol-
lowing crimes: Bribery, burglary in any
degree, larceny, receiving stolen
goods, arson, obtaining money or goods
under false pretences, perjury, fogery,
embezzlement, rape, assault with intent
"
bigamy, incest, removing crop before
paying rent or before satisfying liens
Theron, disposing of mortgaged prop
erty with intent to defraud the mortga-
gee. crime against nature, sale of cotton
within prohibited hours, dueling, gamb-
ling, conducting lottery, injuries to
houses, churches and fences, shooting at
or throwing into cars, locomotives or
q 5ffs a.
seduction under promise Of marriage, or
of an attempt to commit any of said
offences, or of any felony now prohibit
ed by the laws of North Carolina or
which may hereafter be prohibited by
the laws of North Carolina, or which
may hereafter be prohibited. or of any
crime whereof the punishment may be
imprisonment in the penitentiary; shall
be permitted to vote or be deemed an
elector, unless the said person shall be
first restored TO citizenship in manner
prescribed by law. And it shall not be
necessary that any punishment has been
imposed to bring persons within the
prohibition of this section. Those under
suspended judgment are prohibited as
well as those under sentence.
Section 3. Every person offering to
vote III an electlOu Held by the people
in the State, shall be, at the time he
offers to vote, legally enrolled and reg
istered voter on his personal applica-
ton in the manner herein prescribed, and
as provided by the laws enacted in ac-
cordanee with this article, and no per-
son shall be allowed TO vote without reg
istration as herein provided.
The qualification of voters and the
registration laws in force in North Caro-
lima on the first day of April, 1890, shall
be- and remain in force until the first
day of June, 1900, at which date all the
provisions of the constitution relating
to suffrage, registration and election, as
contained in this article, and as herein
provided, shall go into effect, and the
General Assembly of North Carolina
shall at its regular session in 1900, enact
a general registration law to carry into
effect the provisions of this article rela-
ting to the registration of such voters
only as are qualified under this article
and it's section.
Section 4. All elections by the people