The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1909-09-23

Right to Vote For Election Officer
and Give the Legislature opportu
nifty to Debauch Elections and Ma
npulate Returns at Will.
Citizens who favor honest politic
and just government have grave rea
sons to be alarmed on account of th'
provisions of one of the proposed
a palpable attempt upon the part o
the machine legislature to depriy,
them of one of their most importan
political rights. If adopted the peo
pie of the cities will no longer enjo!
the privilege of selecting their owl
election officers by ballot. They vii
be appointed by the machine "in sucl
manner" as the machine Legislature
may by law provide"
Section IA, article s, of the consti
tuition of Pennsylvania reads as fol
lows:
Section IA. District election
boards shall consist of Judge and
two inspectors, who shall be
chosen annually by the citizens.
Each elector shall have the right
to vote for one judge and one in
spector. and each inspector shall
appoint one clerk. The first cleo
tion board for any new district
shall be selected. and vacancies in
election boards filled, as shall be
provided by law. Election officers
shall be privileged from arrest
upon days of election, and while
engaged in making u and trans
mitting returns. except upon war
rant of court of record or a
judge thereof, for an election
fraud, for felony, or for wanton
breach of the peace. In cities they
may claim exemption from jury
duty during their terms of service.
The proposed amendment reads a
follows:
Section IA. District election
boards shall consist of judge and
chosen biennially by the citizens,
at the municipal elections; but
the general assembly may require
said boards to be appointed in
such manner as it may by law pro-
vide. Laws regulating the appoint
nent Of said boards may be enact
ed to apply to cities only. Pro-
vded, that such laws be uniform
for cities Of the same class. Each
elector shall have the right to
vote for the judge and one in
spector, and each inspector shall
appoint one clerk The first cleo
tion board for any new district
shall be selected, and vacancies in
election boards filled as shall be
provided by law. Election officers
shall be privileged from arrest
upon days of election, and while
engaged in making up and trans
mitting returns, except upon war
rant of a court of record or judge
thereof, for an election fraud, for
felony, or for wanton breach of
the peace. In cities they may claim
exemption from jury duty during
their terms of service.
It will be noticed that the only dii
ference between the sections as a
present worded and that which il !;
proposed to substitute is the languag
emphasized in the above quotation
Obviously the intent of the legislator
who conceived and proposed thi
amendment hoped to deceive the pee
pie by the similarity of expression int
an Indifference on the subject. Th'
original provision and the propose
amendment begin and end alike, bu
they are vastly different. The amend
ment applies only to cities. it is true
but it applies to all cities and will
give the machine legislature absolut,
control over so large a proportion o
the total vote that it would be utterl,
impossible to counteract the fraud
which might easily be projected an,
perpetrated,
1t is hardly necessary to speak o
the manner of appointing election
boards in the cities which the machine
legislature would adopt in the even
that this power was conferred upon
by an amendment of the constitution
The legislatures of 1903 or 1905 would
in all probability, have appointed
commission consisting OF Jim Nc
Nichol, Dave Lane and Sam Salter, fo
Philadelphia, and men of the sam
type for other cities of the state, Il
appoint the election boards. Or
might authorize the Republican stat,
committee to appoint them for al
cities. There is absolutely no provis
ion for restraint of the partisanshil
in the Legislature in the event that thi
odious proposition is insinuated int,
the constitution.
The Williamsport Sun, in discussin,
this question, says:
1t is doubtful whether in the his
tory of Pennsylvania as bold an
attempt to usurp the peoples
right and delegate the same to a
political party was ever made as
Is now being attempted by a ma
chine Republican legislature in
one Of the proposed amendments
to the constitution to be voted
upon at the November election.
Fortunately the attempt has been
unmasked In time to Illustrate it's
fruition. The amendment in ques-
ton Is that pertaining to the cleo
ton of district election boards,
intending to make the same ap-
pointive instead of elective, thus
compelling the people to surrender
the most important political right
they possess, and to part with a
safeguard which really lies at the
very source of liberty. AS IL Ap-