The Democratic advocate., 1905-08-12
CHAIRMAN VANDIVER
EXPLAINS AMENDMENT
The Suffrage Amendment to the
Constitution.
WHAT 1T PROPOSES AND WHY 1T
SHOULD BE ADOPTED.


Of the platform upon which our Demo-
cratic Senate and House of Delegates,
as we'll as Governor, Comptroller and
Attorney General, were elected.
An examination of its terms will
abundantly show that it obeys the pop
ular mandate as expressed in their
election.
1t is designed to give to the people
an opportunity to rescue our State
from great evil.
1t is believed to be a full, complete
and effective remedy, while at the same
time wholly free from valid constitu-
tional objection; and its trainers, advo-
Gates and supporters, voicing the sentl-
ments of the white people of the State,
feel that the crisis is one calling for
vigorous measure that will meet and
cure this evil
It preserves without change the ex-
listing provision of our Constitution
which requires registration as an abso-
lutte condition precedent to the exercise
of the right to vote, and conferS the
right to registration only upon adult
males who have been residents OF Mary
land for at least one year.
The changes which it proposes in our
existing Constitution are shown in the
following new provisions:
Every such male citizen of the United
States having the above prescribed
qualifications of age and residence shall
be entitled to be registered SO as to be-
come a qualified voter If he be
"First-A person able to read any
Section of the Constitution Of this State
submitted to him by the Officers of Reg
istration and to give reasonable eX-
PLANTATION of the same; or, If unable to
read such section, able to understand
and give explanation thereof when read
to him by the Registration Officers; or
"Second-A person who on the 1st
day of January, 1869. or prior thereto,
was entitled to vote under the laws of
this State or of any other State OF the
United States wherein he then resided;
or
"Third-Any male lineal descendant
of such aforementioned person who may
be twenty-one CID years of age or over
in the year 1906.
mo person not thus qualified by COM
ing under some one of the above de-
scriptions shall be entitled to be regis
tered as a qualified voter, nor be enti-
tied to vote"
These provisions are perfectly plain.
They declare that every adult male
citizen of the United States who has
resided one year in Maryland shall be
entitled to registration if he comes un-
der any one of the three aforementioned
descriptions of persons. Such adult male
citizen may, therefore, claim registra-
ton.
First-Because qualified under the
educational-test clause; or,
Second-Because qualified by reason
of the fact that he was entitled to vote
on the first day of January, 1869, or
prior thereto, by the laws of this State
or of the State wherein he then re-
sided; or,
Third-Because qualified by reason
Of the fact that he is a lineal descend
ant Of the person who was thus entitled
to vote on the 1st day of January, 1859,
and twenty-one years of age or over in
the year 1906; that is to say, that he
was born not later than the year 1885.
These three descriptions of persons
are in the alternative.
The applicant for registration is re-
quired to bring himself under one only
Of them. and any one of them is suffi-
cient.
All White Men.
He may become a registered voter
because he was entitled to vote so far
back as January l, 1869, or earlier, un-
der the laws of the State in which he
then resided or because, having been
born not later than 1885, he is lineal
descendant of such last-named person;
or because, not claiming to belong to
either Of these two classes, he possesses
the prescribed educational qualification.
Obviously, Clause Second embraces
only men who on January l, 1869, were
not less than twenty-one years of age;
that is to say, men born not later than
this clause could be lawfully registered
In 1906, under the proposed amendment,
would accordingly be then fifty-eight
years old, and this clause would clearly
allow of the registration Of all male
citizens of the United States, white or
black, native born or naturalized, lit
crate or illiterate, who on January l,
1869, or earlier, were entitled to vote
in the State in which they then resided.
All white men who were citizens Of
any of the United States on January 1,
1869, whether native born or natural
ized who shall be living in Maryland
at the period Of registration and who
shall have resided in Maryland for one
year prior to that period will be enti-
tied to registration as qualified voters
under this second clause.
The practical operation Of this second
clause will, therefore, be to admit to
registration all white Marylanders (not
disqualified by reason of conviction for
some Infamous crime'') who were vot-
ers in Maryland on the first day of jan
uary, 1869, or earlier, and also all white
men who on that date or earlier were
qualified voters in any of the States of
the Union.
No educational or other test can be
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