The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-08-02

Supreme Court Of this state has quo
ted approvingly from "McCrary on
Elections" one of the leading auth
critics on the subject, that when
the constitution prescribes the quail
ificatiOns, whoever. possesses them
has constitutional right to vote,
and OF this he cannot be deprived by
legislative enactment" Registration
is means of testing an electors
right to vote, or is the manner of
ascertaining the qualifications, but
is not one of the qualifications;
therefore, when the judges at the
election on July %, arbitrarily pre-
vented a number of qualified cleo
tors from voting merely because they
were not registered, they (the
Judges) were acting without the
realm of their power. Mr.. Orchards
contention before the credentials
committee was, that if the election
board were going to permit only
those who were registered to vote,
that was adding another qualifica-
ton to those required at the general
elections as laid down by the consti-
tuition, and notice of this fact should
have been given by publishing the
resolution setting forth this require
ment This was one of the contin-
gencies which the law contemplated
when it said, in outlining the con-
tents of the managing committees
resolution to be published: That,
1.-The qualifications required Of vot-
ers in addition to those prescribed
by law"
Judges of Election Disqualified.
To show further how unfair was
the whole election, the three judges
or clerks sitting at the polls in We
natchee precinct on the day of cleo
ton, were all candidates on the tick
ct being voted. The law provides
that the qualifications and duties
of the judges and clerks shall be
similar to those in the general cleo
ton law; and the general election
law prescribes that before entering
upon the duties of their offices, they
shall severally take and subscribe
to an oath. The judges all admit
that no oath was taken; therefore,
there were no legally qualified or
acting officers.
Advisory Ballots Marked.
The advisory or sample ballots is
sued by the election board and hand
ed to the voters on the day of cleo
ton prior to issuing the so-called
''officiap' ballot, contained printed
KS" after the names of the stand
pat candidates only, thus directly
suggesting how such "official' bal
lot should be marked by the voter,
all of which was so manifestly I'M
fair and unprincipled that the action
of the election board in this regard
er in law, justice or reason.
Other reasons were stated showing
how beautifully ridiculous were the
attempts of the standpatters to
comply with the law In the final
analysis, the contention of the pro-
gressives was, that because the laws
regarding the holding of this sort of
primary election were so wholly and
entirely disregarded, no legal cleo
ton was held, and consequently
there were no legally elected dele
gates from Wenatchee and Columbia
precincts.
The Standpatters' Arguments.
The regulars argued that if the
progressives' theory prevailed, then
the whole convention contained no
legally elected delegates. This may
be true, but inasmuch as the rights
of the other delegations were not
questioned or attacked, they were
prima facie legal; in other words,
they were presumed to be entitled
to their seats as a matter of law un-
til sufficient contrary showing was
made.
Another argument advanced by
the standpatters was, that the pro-
gressives were lax in not attending
the caucus and taking part in the
proceedings, and could therefore
raise no objection because they had
failed at the primaries; but the lat
ter ask, "Of what benefit would a
progressive ticket have been at the
election, when the judges (who were
also standpat candidates) would not
permit them to vote?"
The progressives were approached
on the Monday following the election
by one of the standpat leaders who
suggested a compromise, and when
willing spirit was manifested on
this score, the proposal was with
drawn. Then the prOgresslves gave
wide publicity of their caucus to be
held at the latest possible date prior
to the convention, which was FRIDAY.
That they had vastly larger repre-
sentation of voters who participated
| in the selection of the cOnteStlng
delegation, has already been stated