The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1914-11-07
SUFFRAGE Amend
MENT WILL HOLD

Inc qucotlOu O1 Wuotnof OF uOt
majority Of al tho votes cast at an
election is necessary to the adoption
Of q constitutional amendment, or
whether . majority Of all votes cast
upon the question Of the adoption or
rejection Of the constitutional amend
ment, has been submitted to me for
m opinion.
The question grows oqf ~ the SUBJ
mission at the recent election X the
constitutional amendm/ht, commchlx
called "The Suffrage AmendpH |;
The requirements Of II re not a.
ferent on that, thaf o. eaoption
or rejection Of any amendm66 EoGhe
Nevada state constitutiaAr>
Section Of Article fo(pkovides the
procedure leading up ~ the>eupYis-
sion Of constitutional ameAdmeheStd
a vote Of the people, and provh3aa afs
50 for the vote. That portion Of tha
section referred to pertaining to the
submission o. the question to the peo-
pie reads a. follows:
"And IL the people shall approve
and ratify such amendment or amend
ments by . majority Of the electors
qualified to vote for members Of the
legislature voting thereon, such
amendment or amendments shall be-
come . part Of the constitution.
At first reading II might appear
that tho paragraph referred to re-
quires majority Of those Who were
qualified to vote for members Of the
last Legislature, but that question il
eliminated by the decision Of the
Supreme Court Of the state Of News
da in the case Of State W. State
Board Of Examiner, 81 New. 81. In
that case the Court holds that the
words "voting thereon do not re-
fer to the words "membefs Of the
legislature in the paragraph quoted
above a. their antecedent and cOnse-
quently do not limit the right to vote
upon the question Of ratification Of the
proposed amendment to electors who
were qualified to vote for members Of
the legislature who voted upon the
proposed amendment. All electors Of
the state are entitled to vote upon the
Submission Of q proposed amend
m6nt.
It h ; fair construction Of the
quoted above in the light
Of the decision referred to, to say that
IL means that the proposed constitu-
tionAl amendment shan Be approved
and ratified by majority Of the elec.
tors qualified to vote and s'voting
thereon
Our court having held that the
words "voting thereon do not re-
fer to the words members Of the leg
islature' the conclusion that they
must refer to . majority Of those vot-
ing upon the question submitted Tin
this ease the suffrage question) is
Irresistible.
The text writer in Is Cyc. at page
3e6, has said:
Gan qualified voters who absent
themselves from m election, duly
called, are presumed to assent to the
will Of the majority Of those voting,
unless the Law providing for the elec-
tion otherwise declares. Any other
rule would be productive Of the great
est Inconvenience and ought not to be
adopted
That view il sustained by decisions
in various states Of the Union, among
them, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Ken
tucky, North Dakota, lfinnesota,
Missouri, Washington and the United
States Suprsme- Court.
In the case Of Marion County vs..
Winkley, 29 Kansas, page 36, the
Court discusses the question Of wheth-
er or not . certain provision concern
ing voting has been adopted by vote
o. the people. In that case the Court
held:
"A majority for bounty which
can be given by . vote of the town
ship, means . majority Of those cast
ON that question, although not . ma
jority Of those east upon township
officers at the same election
In the case Of Gillespie vs.. Palmer,
% Wis.,, page 544, it was held that ga
majority of all the votes cast at such
election" in = constitutional provis-
ion - to extending suffrage, means
majority of those cast on that sub
Ny coqcmsion therefore is that the
ID (rage <anendment b ratified by the
p6bple> II this stats and becomes =
part u our c0Qstitution, even though
the pmber Of Nptes for it's adoption
~ hot have teen . majority Of al
- vQtls casf At the recent election.
T beb1yN ~ law to b that if ma
jopc 6 those voting on the question
of Vne J3tihcation or rejection Of that
~D5hdment voted in favor Of its rAti-
E9tfon, that the amendment is legal
L. G. CAMPBELL.