Arizona republican., 1911-07-23
PHOENIX, ARIZONA. JULY 90. 1911
A State Election in November?


The fun text of the Nelson amend
ment to the Flood resolution having
been printed in The Republican, the
people of the territory are now fairly
familiar with the status of the state
hood question as affected by this
amendment.
single reading of the amendment
should make clear to every reader just
what is required of Arizona in order
TO complete the process of admission.
The only requirement Is, that the
people of Arizona, at the election pro-
vided for, shall vote in favor of con-
STRUNG Article VIII of the consttu-
ton against the recall of the jul
dietary.
The question which the voters will
find on their ballots-if the Nelson
amendment carries in congress-will
read:
Shall Article VIII of the constitu
ton, in so far as it relates to recall
bl bubllC OltlNtiSs bt ltlu anu NbiA-
strued not to apply to judicial Of
fiCerS?"
If the majority vote be in the af-
firmativc on this question, Arizona at
once becomes a state If the ma
jority vote is in the negative, that
ends the present movement for state
hood
An interesting provision of the
amendment is in relation to the state
election. 1t is assumed that the voters
viii amend the constitution as sug
gested. and to avoid loss of time, it is
provided that the state election shall
be held on the same day on which
the voters register their will on the
constitutional amendment
In other words, if the amendment
passes both houses of congress, there
will be a state election within four
months from the day that the presi-
dent approves the act. 1t is provided
that the president must, within thirty
days after he approves the act, certify
the fact of his approval to the gov
ernor Of Arizona. Within thirty days
after receiving this certificate from
the president, the governor must issue
his proclamation calling a general
election. The election must not be
earlier than sixty days, nor more than
ninety days after the date Of the gov
errors proclamation.
The senate is to vote on the Flood
resolution. and on the Nelson amend
ment to that resolution (as well as all
other amendments offered, on August
z The house will no doubt act on the
resolution as amended by the senate
very shortly after August 7, as con-
gress will adjourn by the middle of
August. The belief prevails at Wash
ington that the senate will amend the
Flood resolution as passed by the
house by adopting either the Nelson
amendment or some other amendment
similar in terms-merely changing the
Flood resolution SO as to require the
elimination of the judiciary from the
recall provisions of the constitution.
1t is also the Prevailing opinion at
Washington that the house will accept
the proposed amendment of the Flood
resolution, as the democrats in the
house will not wish to take the re-
sponsibility of defeating statehood for
Arizona.
If, therefore, we take August IS as
the date Of presidential approval. it
would be practicable To have state
election next November The presi-
dent does not need to wait thirty
days before certifying the fact of his
approval, nor does the governor of
Arizona have to wait thirty days be-
fore issuing his election proclamation
it is merely provided that both the
president and the governor must act
within" the specified thirty days. In
all probability, if the legislation takes
the course predicted, Governor Sloan
will be able to issue his proclamation
of election by the first of September.
And he could comply with the law by
calling the election for the first Tues
day i'm November-the 9Th day of that
month.
There has, of course. never been
any doubt that the people Of Arizona
would vote on the recall as required
by congress, in order to get immediate
statehood. They are not nearly so
deeply interested in the recall propo-
sition as some politicians imagine:
But IL there had been any doubt, the