Rural Retreat times. [volume] (Rural Retreat, Va.) 1892-1918, 1903-05-22
POLL TAX A PREREQUISITE TO
VOTING.

/
son has rendered an opinion upon the
requirement for the pre-
payment of the poll tax of $3.50 before
voting.
1t is estimated that the misunder
standing Of this prerequisite to voting |
and the failure to comply with the re-
quirement, will disfranchise 10000 reg
istered voters of the State.
We print, for the benefit of our read
ers, the opinion in full. Read it and
see that your poll tax is paid, otherwise
you will be denied the right to vote at
any election herafter held:
Chase City, Va, May 4, 1903
To Honorable J. f. Ryan, Speaker of
the house of delegates of Virginia:
Sir-I have the honor to submit my
response to the resolution adopted by
the house of delegates, calling for my
opinion as to the porper construction
| of the Constitution of the State, ''rela-
| tive to the payment of poll tax as
prerequisite to the right to vote after
January /, 1904 in the particulars
mentioned in the resolution.
Before considering the several en-
quiries propounded, it will be well to
remember that by the terms of Sec
ton Is of the Constitution, no person
can vote in Virginia unless he shall
be first registered as a voter in ac-
cordance with the provisions of the
! CONSTITUTION. 1t is necessary also to
distinguish the requirements as to the
payment of poll taxes as a prerequisite
| to the right to register and vote, pre-
scribed as to the voters registered after
January 1, 1904, from the requirements
in that regard as to the voters enrolled
prior to that cate.
The only persons to whom the pre-
payment of any poll tax applies as a
prerequisite to the right to register are
those who apply for registration after
January 1, 1904.
| There is no such requirement as to
the registration of those who are en-
| tiled to be registered upon the perman-
lnent rolls during the years 1902 and
1908, under the registration ordinance
adopted by the convention.
Bearing in mind these features of
the suffrage Ilan embodied in the Con-
stitution, and having especial reference
to Section 20 and 81 of that instru-
ment, my answers to the several en-
Iquiries propounded will be better I'M
lderstood.
I now proceed to restate those en-
Iquiries and to answer them in their
order:
1st When does poll tax, as pre-
requisite to the right to vote begin to
accrue?
10 this my answer is as follows:
(a). AS to a person applying for reg
istration after January L, 1904, it be-
gins with the poll tax which was as
|sessed or assessable in 1901; for by
Section 100, he is required, before he
is entitled to be registered, to have
paid to the proper officer all State poll
taxes assessed or assessable against
him, under this or the former Constitu-
ton, for the three years next preceding
that in which he offers to register
A person applying to register during
the year 1904 must have paid the State
poll tax of ST. for each of the years 1901
and 1902 assessed or assessable against
him under the former Constitution, and
the State poll tax of $3.50 for the year
1908, assessed or assessable under Sec
ton 173 of the present Constitution.
Of course this requirement does not
|apply to the poll taxes for any year in
which the applicant was not, by reason
of age or residence, legally liable to be
assessed.
(b). AS to a person registered in
1902 or 1908 on the permanent roll,
this requirement begins with the poll
tax of $3.50 for the year 1908, assess
able under the present Constitution,
Section 81, prescribing the payment of
capitation taxes assessed under the
present Constitution only as pre-
requisite to the right to vote, before
he is allowed to vote at any election.
In 1905, the voter registered after
January 1, 1904, must have paid the
poll taxes assessable against MIN for
he year 1902, 1903, and 1904
Before being allowed to vote at any
election in 1905, the voter registered in
902 or 1903 must have paid the poll |
axes assessable against him under the
present Constitution, namely, those for
he years 1908 and 1904
After 1905 the requirements in re-
'pect to the prepayment of poll taxes
Will be the same as to the voters regis
,ered before January 1, 1904, that they
are as to those registered after that
late.
End. 1t is necessary that poll taxes
for the three years preceding 1904 be
paid to entitle an elector to the right