The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1903-05-09
SATURDAY, MAY g. 1903
Letter From Attorney General.

Letter From, Attorney Gcneral.
ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE, }
STATE of LOUISIANA.
NEW ORLEANS, La, MAY, g, 1903.
Secty. Parish School Board,
Lafayette, La.
Dear Sir:--In reply to your
letter of the 9th ultimO L beg to
state that in my opinion, no per-
son who is not a property
tax payer, entitled to vote under
the election laws of this State,
can vote at the special election
which YOU SAY tn" parish of La
fayrtte is abn;it to buIG IN order
to take Tie sense OF the people
on Il proposition to l.'!N IL school
tax. Article 2::'2 of the COn$tl-
tutiun of 1898 declares THAT the
St:!ts. tax on property tor All
,,ur;,n&r~, SHALL net exceed SIX
mills and, except as otherwise
provided in the Constitution, no
parrish. municipal or public board
tax shall exceed in any one year,
ten mills: ''prnvid"d, that for
giving additional support to pub
lie schools, and for the purpose
of erecting and constructing
= : public school houses
= : + any parish, munich
pal corporation, ward or school
district may levy a special tax in
excess of said limitation, when
ever the rate of such increase
and the number of years it is to
be levied, and the purposes. for
which the tax is intended, shall
have been submitted to a vote OF
the property taxpayers of such
parish, municipality, ward or
school district, ENTITLED TO
VOTE UNDER THE ELECTION
LAWS OF THE STATE, etc.
Article 1919 of the Constitution
declares that, upon all questions
submitted to the taxpayers, as
such, of any municipal or other
political subdivision Of the State,
the qualification of such tax
payers as voters shall be those
of age and residence required OF
other voters and in addition that
they be registered: except that
women taxpayers are not re-
quired to register as voters IN
order to vote at such elections.
When read together 1 think it
can be stated with certainty
that, except in the cases OF
women taxpayers, all other
property taxpayers, voting at
such elections. must not only
register. but that they must also
be ''entitlcd to vote under the
election laws of the State
Now, one of the qualifications
required to entitle Il male person
to vote under the general cleo
ton laws of the State is that he
should have paid on or before
the 31st of December a poll tax
of one dollar for the two years
preceding the year of the cleo
ton at which he offers to vote.
1t is my opinion, therefore,
that all male persons offering to
vote at the election referred to
by you should present their poll
tax receipts for the years 1901
and 1902.
In reply to your second inquiry
I will say that there is no way
by which a firm may vote except
through it's mem berS, and l am
of the opinion that each member
of a firm assessed and paying
taxes is taxpayer within the
intend ment of the Constitution
the only property in
which he may be Interested be
in the name of the firm.
Each Nom Der of the firm should
be permitted to vote the same as
if the property has been assessed
to him individually provided he
possess all the other qualitica-
lions of an electOr.
Trusting I have answered fully
the questions submitted to me,
believe me,
Yours very truly,
WALTER GUION,
Attorney General.