The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-21
1,1O5 HAVE REGISTERED
COMPLAINT ABOUT oUALR16A-
 TON RESTRICTIONS.
Number of Voters are Disqualified from Participating in Mont gomery Primary Because of
 Omission by the
 Legislature.

A total of 1.f06 voters had registered for the Montgomery city primary election when the books were closed yesterday afternoon at 5 o'clock.
 The registration office will be kept open tonight until 8 o'clock.
 The suffrage restrictions of the new State Constitution are having an import ant bearing upon the Montgomery munic- ipai campaign. Through ignorance of the full constitutional requirements or through inadvertence many intelligent voters who take an active interest in pol itics and who are quite willing to com ply with all legal and constitutional reg ulations. have disfranchised themselves so far as the city primary is concerned.
 The chief complaint is from the men who have paid one years poll tax when two years were charged against them on the Collectors books. A voter who paid one years poll tax when two was due, a fact which he did not know. is as effec- no effort whatever to comply with the law and the constitution.
 Numerous cases of this sort have come to light since the beginning of the city .egistrau0n. It appears that voters went to the Collectors office to pay their taxes and paid for one year when they were in some cases due two years tax, of which they were ignorant. The Collector did not tell the voters how many years poll
 tax they were due the State. He accept cd the money and made out the receipt for the year named by the voter.
 The Collector of Montgomery County and the Collectors of other counties have held that inasmuch as the payment of poll tax is made voluntary by the consti- tuition the Collector Is not called upon to furnish information as to poll taxes due
 unless the voter asks for 1t. In other words 1t Is held that the Collectors are not called upon to tell voter how much poll tax Is due unless he asks.
 And SO It comes about that a number of Montgomery voters have been refused the
 right to register for the city election when they were certain they had com piled with every requirement.
 The contention of the Tax Collector is resisted by many citizens of Montgomery
 who point out that 1t opens the way for
 an injustice to the voter who Is trying | to qualify himself.
 'Tt Is clear to me-" said a well known | citizen yesterday, that the Collector or | deputy collector should tell a man who
 owes when he presents himself at the | window. If man goes to pay his gro- | cery bill two months due the groceryman
 would certainly tell him how much he
 owes. To go further, if a man owed two
 years tax on real estate he Is always
 told by the Assessor and Collector the to- | tai amount of his taxes. While the pay
 ment of poll tax Is voluntary 1t is at the
 same time qualification and the agent
 of the State should assist the voter who
 is trying to qualify. The failure to vol
 unteer information to voter might be | construed as the States assisting in the
 disfranchisement of it's citizens"
 State Auditor Sowell holds that the pay mont of the poll tax Is a voluntary act
 on the part of the voter. MT. Sowell said | yesterday that the whole suffrage article
 of the Constitution showed that poll tax
 payment was voluntary. He said too. | that the collectors were not expected to | question a voter as to his poll tax or to | volunteer information.
 Charles B. Teasly. deputy collector of
 Montgomery County said yesterday: The payment of poll tax is a voluntary act made so by the Constitution. The
 voter oan pay 1t or not as he chooses. If he desires to pay 1t for one year or two | years he can do so and If he desires | information on the subject the books are here and we are always glad to furnish | the information when asked. It being | e voluntary act we do not feel called upon | to question every man who presents him. | self as to the amount he wants to pay" | The Legislature in It's last session fall l ed to provide a permanent plan of regis
 tration to take the place of the temporary | plan fixed by the Constitution. The Bankhead bill embodying such a plan is now on the House calendar.
 This omission by the Legislature has
 worked a hardship on the younger voters. | The man who has become of age since
 the close of the State registration books | cannot possible vote in the Montgomery | city primary nor can he vote until the | Legislature provides a permanent regis | tFation plan. He was not old enough to get life certificate last fall and he can not be registered for the city election unless he has a life certificate. The applicant must have two qualif1ca- tions before he can register. He must
 first of all have a life certificate of regis
 tration He must in addition to this either be exempt from poll tax or he
 must have paid his poll tax for the past two years
 The city registrars had another good day yesterday although there was fall ing off in the registration as compared to previous days. Yesterday there were registered 154 voters.