The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-03-25
EXPLAINS THE NEW
PRIMARY ELECTION LAW
Attorney-General Straus Clears Three
Disputed Points.

legislature, ana winch appheSi Tor the
first time this year to the % counties IN
Maryland, is such that the Supervisors
of Elections over all the State. as well
as politicians, are in a quandary as to
what to do. Sections of the law cause
confusion, and requests for construction
of its provisions and instructions re-
garding them have been pouring in upon
Acknowledgement Straus.
Mr.. Straus Saturday gave out three
opinions, all bearing upon this law. to
officials in three counties. which opin
ions clear up at least three of the dis
puted points in connection with the act.
One of these was sent to Mr.. Franklin
Upshur, counsel to the Supervisors of
Worcester county. Mr.. Upshur desired
information as to the alphabetical
lists of registered voters" called for by
the law. After citing the sections Mr..
Straus replied as follows:
THE Supervisors of Elections in each
county shall cause a complete alphabet
cal list of all the qualified voters of
each election district or precinct of
the several counties in the order of their
registration to be made There shall
be such list for each election district
or precinct in the country and also for
each return judge of each party in each
district in the county. Each of these
+. lists shall be certified to by the Super
Visors, and each list shall be posted.
There shall be only one list for each
election precinct or district, and one for
each return judge. The expense of
making these lists must not exceed 500.
These lists must be corrected and
posted annually, for which the cost
must not exceed $50 year.
"The Supervisors of Election of each
county shall also cause to be made addi-
tional certified lists as may be required
by any political party. That is to say,
each political party holding a primary
election in the county may obtain from
the Supervisors such additional certified
lists of registered voters each list be-
ing copy of the original lst-as may
be necessary for the holding of primary
elections. The political party obtaining
such lists must bear the expense of
making the same.
"These lists the original lists-pre-
pared and posted by the Supervisors
are not books. The act says lists
and not books, and is a list which is to
be made and posted. But as the Super
yisors are required to furnish additional
certified copies upon requisition of the
governing bodies Of each of the political
parties it will no doubt be more con-
venient to prepare these additional lists
for the use of political parties in book
form, and, therefore, suchI books will,
IN my Judgment, be not only useful, but
will facilitate the conduct of the prl-
maries.
A second opinion was to Mr.. 7. Sang
ston lnsley, counsel to the Board of ST.
pervisors for Dorchester county, to
whom the Acknowledgement wrote as
follows:
''The alphabetical lists of qualified
voters required by the Primary Election
law of 1903 are complete lists of all the
registered voters in each election pre-
cinct or districtof the county, including,
of course, all the registered voters of
all parties. 1t is therefore. not neces-
sary for the supervisors to make an
alphabetical list of the voters of each
of the parties, as each party may OBJ
tain from the supervisors certified
copies of the lists of all the registered
voters of each election district or pre-
cinct in the county, which the law
makes it the duty of the supervisors of
each county to have prepared and post
ed.
Il am of the opinion that neither the
supervisors of elections nor their clerks
can legally receive any extra compensa-
ton for the additional work which the
new law imposes upon them. They can
receive only the compensation provided
by law"
The third opinion went to Mr.. Thomas
j. Hunter, clerk to the supervisors of
of Baltimore county, who wished to
know their powers under the law to
subdivide or create new election dis
tricts in the county. Mr.. Straus gives
his opinion on this point as follows:
"The right to make such subdivision
s discretionary with the supe rvisors,
and is not mandatory upon them. If,
in their judgment and discretion, they
deem it proper to make such a subdivi-
sion, they are authorized to do so, but
they are not required to do so even
though the number of voters in any
precinct exceeds 600.
'The section contemplates the MAX
ing of a subdivision is to say, the