The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1914-02-20
House Refused to Pass the
Primary. Measure.
SAYS 1912 PRIMARY O. X.
Only Argument of Opposi-
ton is That Primary of 1912
Was Above Suspicion and
is Good Enough Now-Says
Convention Can Adjust It.
Wednesdays State.)


For lack of one vote, almost all
hope of the passage of legislation by
the general assembly to safeguard
the primary election system vanish
ed into thin air last night, when the
house by vote of 81 to Sd refused
to pass to third reading the primary
election reform bill now pending In
the senate. The senate bill was sub
stituted for the house bill by vote
OF ID to 53 on the motion of Mr..
Stevenson of Chesterfield, who led
the fight to enact legislation which
would guarantee to South Carolina
honest primary elections.
The bill which the house killed last
night did not throw any restrictions
around enrolling for primary cleo
tions other than those now required
under the rules of the Democratic
party. 1t would not have disfran-
chised a single white man had it
been enacted into law. The members
who urged it's passage claimed,
though, that it would eliminate IRE
peating" and other forms of illegal
and fraudulent voting, said to have
been practiced in the primary cleo
ton of 1912, and whose occurrence
in some counties at least was admit
ted on the floor of the house last
night. The opponents of the bill,
hard put to find arguments against
its passage, contented themselves in
the main with claiming that the
present system was above suspicion
and that the primary election of 1912
was fair and square.
Although the Miley and Nicholson
primary election reform bills are now
pending on the calendar of the house
on second reading, there Is little like
Hhood that at this stage Of the ses-
sion, should either of them to be
passed, the senate will ratiey the ac-
tion of the house. Mr.. Stevenson
explained to the house last night that
practically the only chance of en-
acting legislation at this session to
safeguard the primary was for the
house to substitute for .he bill by its
judiciary committee the measure nov
pending in the senate, which would be
almost the same in effecr. On the
motion of Mr.. Stevenson the house
agreed to amend the bill by substi
tuting the senate bill for the Judiciary
committees bill by vote of 81 to
53, and then promptly refused to pass
the bill as amended by a vote of 81
to Sd. None of the members of the
house changed their votes. The tie
was brought about by the failure of
Mr.. Rittenberg of Charleston to vote
on the question of substituting the
senate bill for the house bill and
then voting against the passage of
the amended house bill Mr.. Ritten-
berg introduced bill in the house
this session proposing to reform the
primary election system in Charles
to nby much more drastic provisions
than those proposed in the bill which
ne voted against last night. Mr..
Miley of Bamberg, who has a pri-
mary election reform bill on the cal
endar of the house now, also voted
to Kill the primary reform bill last
night.
In view of the fact that there is
little possibility of the passage of
election system, the Democratic con-
vention next May will take on new
Importance. The convention will
have it in it's power to amend or not
to amend the rules of the party so as
to safeguard the primary election
system. The administration forces at
the May convention will doubtless
use the argument that the rules
adopted by the last convention, which
was anti-adminstration by an over
whelming majority, ought to be good
enough to govern the primary in
August, 1914.