The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1903-09-12
LAFAYETTE PARISH CONTEST.
Executive Committee Orders
That Primary he Held
Jan. I'D.

The executive committee of
the Democratic State Central
, mmirtee, in passing upon the
Lafayette contest case, ordered
primaries after Jan. 1 for the
nomination of candidates to be
voted on in 1904, in order that
the Lafayette primary may be
held on Jan. 10.
Before this action was taken,
the committee adopted the fol-
lowing additional section to the
circular letter issued to chair
men of parish com mittees.
$50. The committee, in the rules sug
gested by it, has provided that the qualifica-
,ions of voters at primary elections, in re-
spect to poll taxes, shall be that the vote,
shall have paid the same poll taxes required
of the voter who shall participate in the
general election following the primary.
Whilst the committee has taken this action,
a wide divergence of opinion has developed
among the LAWYERS of the State upon the
question, whether the poll tax qualification
for voting at a primary held in the fall of
the years 1901 and 1909, or for the years
1902 and 1908. All differences of opinion
on this subject would disappear if parish
primaries be held subsequently to Jan. 1,
1904. In this event the committee is of
opinion and advises that the old registration
of voters remain good for all purposes until
after the new registration shall have been
completed, sixty days after Jan. 1, 1904.
During the sixty days the fact the voter was
registered under either the old registration
the new one, would, in the opinion of the
committee, constitute him a registered voter
for the purposes of casting his vote at a pri-
mary election held during said sixty days.
1t will, therefore, be seen that the holding
of local primaries subsequently to Jan. 1,
1904, will eliminate very serious legal ques-
lions from the case, and questions which
the executive committee can not finally de-
eide, and which it can not keep out of the
courts
Mr.. Kruttchnitt reported, for
the subcommittee on the Lafa-
yette case, that the committee
was without legal authority to
pass upon the legal questions
involved in the petition to unseat
Messrs. Broussard and De-
Clouet. AS to other points in
the Broussard- Scranton petition,
the subcommittee reported
practically the same rules
adopted for the ST. Martin prim-
airy. The principal points in the
decision of the1 sub-com mittee,
as summed of by the report Of
the Times-Democrat are as fol-
lows:
CT. That there should be three commits
sioners and one clerk at each poll, and that
the Broussard Scranton faction should have
the privilege of naming one commissioner
and the clerk for each poll.
'sz. That the expenses of the primary
should be prorated among the candidates,
who should post their prorata before the
election.
Mr.. kruttschntt supplemented the com
mittee's written report by an oral statement.
He said that there was no legal warrant for
the executive committee to interfere with
the composition of parish committee. The
wide divergence of opinion to the appl-
cation of the poll tax to primaries, together
their use, and was law as long it
NAMED on the statute books, had decided
the subcommittee in favor of holding all
nominating primaries after Dec. 81, as set
forth in the additional section to the circu-
lar letter to chairmen of parish com mittees.
Mr.. kruttschnitt added that the subconl-
n,ittee had learned further during the hear
ing of the case from Lafayette parish fact
that was not generally known to residents
of New Orleans. 1t was that the poll tax
lists were not opened in the parishes until
after the assessment rolls had been re-
turned to the shelif. 1t was not likely that
any poll tax certificates could be issued be-
fore Oct. I in most of the parishes, which
was an ad ditional reason for delaying the
primaries.
The report was adopted after it had been
protested against by Mr.. Girard, counsel
for the parish executive committee, who
confined himself TO arguing that the appli-
cation of the poll tax provision to the pri-
mary election unconstitutional. He
admitted, howev that it was law long
as the primary law stood upon the statute
books.