The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-09
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Numbering nallots.

ballot is of French origin and has been l incorporated into the English language without primary change of meaning. It Is defined in French dictionaries to mean the act of voting by balls or tickets | by putting the same into a box or urn.'' Tt Is admitted that the primary mean ing of ballot meant secret vote. In considering, however, what the framers I of our new Constitution meant by the word ballot 1t is necessary to look to | the history of cur constitutional and statute law on the subject.
 Tn the Constitution of 1873, Article g. l Section {, the following provision is | found: |" Tn all elections by the people. the electors shall vote by ballot. until the General Assembly shall otherwise direct ' Tn the Constitution of 1861. Article 8, Section 2. is found this clause, "In all collections by the people. the electors shall vote by ballot until otherwise directed by ] law
 | Again, in the Constitution of 1868 Is | found this declaration in Article '. Sec ton 1. Tn all elections by the people, the electors shall vote by ballot Tn the Constitution adopted in 1875 Article s, Section 2, is written, All cleo
 tions by the people shall be by ballot Tn the Constitution adopted Septem- Der 3. 1901. 1t is provided in Article g. Sec | tion 179. All elections by the people shall | be by ballot
 "The above is the constitutional and
 we now come to the statutory history of | the ballot in Alabama. In the laws of
 Alabama in force in 1923 we find on page 9l8, Section 2, Tn all elections by the peo-
 pie. the electors shall vote by ballot until | the General Assembly shall otherwise
 direct In this same Code, page 26S, 1t Is prescribed that ballots shall be num-
 bered.
 Tn Gays Alabama Digest. page 1H | Section 3, we read, Tn all elections by l the people, the electors shall vote by
 ballot. until the General Assembly shall | otherwise direct
 l Tt is also provided that the ballots | be numbered. Page 175.
 | 'In the Code of 1852, Section 206, is this provision. At all elections by the people. 1 the electors must vote by ballot and in
 Section 209, same Code. is the following l language, The name of the elector whose ballot has been so received, must imme- | diately be taken down by each clerk on | separate lists, which are headed names
 of voters,' and called poll lists; and the ! number of the order, in which such cleo | tor votes, must at the same time be en- | tered by each clerk against his name, | the first elector voting number one, the
 second number two and so on to the last elector voting
 | 1867, Section PAS is found this language, At all elections by the people, the electors must vote by ballot The section quoted from the Code of 1852 as to numbering the ballots is adopted in this Code as Section 251.
 I've find in the acts of 1868. page 275. Section 30, this clause, That at all elec-
 tions by the people, the electors must
 vote by ballot Section 32 of the same
 act adopts the same provision for num-
 bering ballot.
 "A new election law was approved Feb
 ruary 26, 1872 (see acts 1S71-2, page 15),
 embodying the provision. That at all
 elections by the people the elector must vote by ballot but the requirement. to number the ballot was omitted and there- by repealed.
 | ''First-It will be observed that from the earliest dawn of our constitutional
 and statutory law, 1t has been distinctly
 declared that the elector must vote by
 ballot and some of the earlier constitu-
 tions empowered the Legislatures to
 change the manner of voting or dispense
 with the ballot. No Legislature made
 any such change. but. on the contrary
 followed the Constitutions in prescribing 1 that the vote must be by ballot.
 "Second-Again 1t appears that under
 Constitutions providing that all electors
 must vote by ballot, the same language l
 the ballots were numbered for about nftS
 years and no question was ever raised , | during all that time as to it's constitu
 tionality.
 "Third-The fact that three Constitu tions were adopted, with clear knowledge of the construction placed by the Legisla' ture and people upon the clause that al elections should be by ballot-is persua' sive to show how 1t has been understood
 m SyS , tenn of elections that it is too late now to agitate the question.
 "The original meaning of the word bal
 lot-signified secret vote. It is derived from the French and conveyed the ides | of voting by means of balls. In time I ? came to express a written vote. The req question is, not what was the primar!
 meaning of the word ballot but wha
 did the framers of our Constitution mear by It's use in that instrument? Word 7 should be used in their generally ac , cepted meaning at the time of the pas 1 sage of the act, and if re-enacted will . be deemed to be adopetd in their origna . sense. Southerla11d on Statutory Con struction Section PAT.
 "In Interpreting one of our Constitu
 tions Judge Somerville used the following s language: The point for decision, there fore, may be considered to belong to tha l class of doubtful eases which permits fo its solution the invocation of the doctrine f | of legislative construction. The principle , has often been declared. that Constltu , tions are to be construed in the light O previously existing Constitutions, and tha
 | a uniform legislative Interpretation Of
 doubtful clause, running through man!
 years, is of weghty consideration witt s the courts, as Is also the contemporane i, ous exposition of the bar
 "The maxim, contemporaneous expostit est fortissima in lege, Is an accepted ? canon of Judicial Construction" Moos t vs. Randolph. T Ala, 6o6; ex parte Hard! t 6S Ala. S03 ex parte Selma and Gulf R R. Co.,. 45 Ala, 696: Sedw Stat Law 252 . ex parte John Hardy 6s Ala, SOS. f ''The General Assembly has the sam t right to construe the constitution of thu = State, the courts have. Ex parte Selma ' and Gulf Railroad Co.,, 45 Ala, 696. Con ceding for the sake of argument tha , the use of the word ballot implies secre
 vote. still it was certainly not the inten S ton of the Constitution builders to GU > off all right of contest and would no extend thus far.
 "In the case of Rltchie vs. Richard
 14 Utah Report, p. S5S-4 Zane, C. J. use
 the following language: Tn construing
 constitution prescribin ga secret ballot f we can not presume that the authors O e the constitution intended to prevent cleo . tiOn contests-to prevent any proveedini Il by which ballots cast by illegal voters cal d be thrown out The method devised b, l. this law preserves legal secrecy. Tn members of the convention must hay = known that election contests were per II mitted in all the States and that the