The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1906-02-08

our general system of self government
and is an election within the con.
st%itutional meaning, and il a voter
possessing thequalifications prescribed
by the constitution should be deprived
of the privilege of participating in
good faith at the u OF his party
in the choice of men and measures fol-
which he desires to vote at the subse.
quent election, he is denied asubstan-
tial privilege conferred upon him by
the constitution, and deprived OF a full
and free exefcise of his right Of stuff.
rage.
Section "a presupposes as its basis
that a person who supported the plat.
form of a particular party when he last
voted has no right to participate in the
deliberations of any other party today.
The principle vice Of this section is
that it does not refer to the affiliations
and beliefs of the voter at the time he
offers his vote but refers to his past
affiliations and belief whenever he vot.
ed last, whether it be two or four or ten
years ago, and imposes the penalty OF
Acknowledgement upon him-first, II he
has since changed his political views;
or, second, if the party with which he
last voted has changed its platform so
that it does not represent his views; or
third, if his party has ceased to exist;
or fourth, new principles of which he
is an advocate are represented by a diff
ferent party than the one he voted with
last; or fifth, If for personal reasons he
scratched his ticket at the last
election at which he voted or failed to
vote for a majority of the ticket at all.
1t is manifest that If this provision
were enforced, hundreds and perhaps
thousands OF persons in the state would
be disfranchised at caucuses notwith-
standing the fact that at the time of
offering his vote each n may in good
faith be a supporter of the principles
OF the party at whose caucus he offers
his vote, and possesses all of the quail
fications of an electOr under the con-
stitution. Such perversion Of our
electoral system would be intolerable.
To require a voter offering to p~artici-
pate in a caucus to declare with what
party he is then affiliated or even to
require OF him a promise TO support
the nominees OF that party would per-
haps be to require of him nothing
more than he implicitly represents and
promises by participating in a caucus
OF any particular party, but if any adj
ditional qualifications could lawfully
be added by the legislature this would
be far different from imposing as a
condition to his participation in the
caucus the manner in which he may
have voted in the past as required by
this act. To illustrate: ApersOn may
have been 4 republican when he last
voted, but conditions. platforms and
his views of public affairs having been
changed since that time he has in good
faith affiliated with the democratic
party and became a supporter iof Its
principles. He cannot vote in a re-
publican caucus honestly because he
is no longer a republican. He cannot
vote in a democratic aucus under this
act because he voted for the candidates
on the republican ticket several years
ago when he last voted. He is, in the
eyes of this act, a nan without a party.
Previous to the adoption Of this law,
political parties usually invited all
electors believing in the principles of
the party to participate in their cauc-
uses, regardless of past Civilizations.
The legislature here seeks to impose
conditions which the political parties
did not.
Section "a requires the voter to dis
close how he voted and who he sup
ported at the last previous election
Notwithstanding the very essence of
the Australian ballot law under which
he voted is secrecy. 1t seeks to inn
pose a penalty for having exercised the
right Of voting as he pleased.
The right Of suffrage without the right
to exercise it freely would be shOrn OF
its vital element. 1t would exclude
the voter from participating. in the
election of delegates ut a aucus not
w~ithstanding the fact that at the tjmeof
offering his vote ne is Il bona hda be-
lever in and supporting the principles
of that party. The constitution does
not contemplate any such diSfranChiSe-
ment, and | am therefore of the opin-
ion that in so far as section II pro-
hibits an eIectOr from participating in
good faith in the caucus of the party
of his choice, unless he voted for and
supported a majority of the candidates
OF such party at the last preceding
election at which he voted, is uncon-
stitutional and void. -
Concerning the oath prescribed by
section % of said chapter, ! viii say
that it is vulnerable at least to all Of
the foregoing objections applying to
"A.
The purpose of requiring a chal-1
voter to subscribe an oath be-
fore exercising his right of suffrage is
to ascertain whether he possesses the
qualifications that confer the right Of
a voter upon him, and such an oath
cannot lawfully impose additional re-
quirements.
McCrary on Elections, 18th Ed, sec
tons so and 56.
| do not think that the invalidity Of
the provisions contained in sections
"a and 25 aobve mentioned will neces-
sarily affect the validity Of the
remainder of the act, but | am OF the
opinion, for the reasons above stated,
that any person possessing the qualifi-
cations of an elector under the consti-
tuition OF this state who in good faith
is affiliated with an existing political
party and intends generally to sup
port its principles and candidates has
a right to participate in the election of
delegates at the caucuses of such party
regardless of how he may have voted
in the past, and that for the legislature