Charlevoix county herald., 1908-01-25
The New Primary Law.
Lansing, Jan. l5. 1908

The new primary law goes into
effect the 25th of this month and. AS
many inquiries have been received re-
garding its operation, l have deemed
it advisable to call the attention OF
the people to some of its provisions.
Any further informatiOp desired will
be promptly furnished,
Those who desire To take part In
primary elections under the law will
be required TO enroll IL they have not
already done SO. Under the provi-
sions of the new law, the first Tues
day in September will hereafter be
the day upon which all primary cleo
tions for county, legislative and con-
gressional nominations will be made,
as we'll as for Governor and Lieuten-
ant Governor. Two enrolment days
are provided for by the new law; one
on the registration day previous to the
spring election, and one on the Satur-
day previous To the September pri-
mary, the first Tuesday OF the month.
occurring thi year on September lst.
There is no new enrolment required
except for those who have changed
their residence or party affiliations.
All congressional districts, counties
and representative districts which
adopted the direct nominating sys-
tenn under the law of 1905 remain so
under the new law. This is also true
OF those senatorial districts, the
boundaries of which were not chang
ed under the senatorial apportion-
ment OF the last regular session. A
resubmission OF the question Is neees
sary in all senatorial districts where
changes were made. Unless this is
done, nominations will be made under
the old convention system The sena-
torial districts ia which it is neces-
sarY to submit the question of direct
nominations are as follows:
n **xx
-seyenth-Antrim, Kalkas-
ka, Missaukee, Wexford, Grand TRAY
erse, Leelanau, Benzie.
observation-disclosures, Pressure
Isle, Alpena, Emmett, Charlevoix, o.
sego, Montmorency,
*#*x*
The dist. lets named above are those
whose boundaries were changed by the
reapportionment or which did not
ADOPT the system under the 1905 law.
In either event it Will be necessary
Tor them to have the question sub
mitted before nominations can be
made by direct vote,
There is no doubt that there is a
very general desire to extend this sys-
tenn to otner districts and counties
and before this can be done IL will be
necessary to file with the county clerk
or Secretary of State, as the law pro.
yides, petitions signed by twenty pei
cent of the enrolled voters of the part,
under the old enrolment. These pct
1tlons must be circulated, signed aLC
filed, as above stated, between the
date the law goes into effect, January
20. 1908. and the.hfth Of March, 1908
which is the last day upon which pet
ltions Can be filed under the law stat
ing that that must be done thirty
days previous to the election. Thi
Will bring the matter before the voter
at the regular spring election, Mon
day, April 6, 1908, and allow them t,
decide what they want in this matter
AT present we have nearly fifG
counties in which at least one of tn
p0litical parties dominates candidate
for county offices by direct vote,
large majority eff the members Of tn,
legislature, and nine out Of twelv
congressional districts make nOmina
tions 10y direct vote. In every Ia
stance where IL has been sublnitte
the people have decided ia favor of i,
and it Is equally certain that the sys
tenn has come to stay and that it wi
be extended in time to every PORTO
Of the state. 1t will necessarily r.
quire some effort and work during til
next six weeks to get the require
number of signatures to have the ma
ter voted upon 10 April.
The new law is not perfect one b
any means, but its use aud operatio
will make apparent its defects, an
future legislatures can and will co
rect.its faults.
If blank petitions required und'
the new law cannot be found at I'll
Office OF the County Clerk, they wi
be promptly furnished upon apple;
tion TO this office.
FRED M. WARNER,
Governo