The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1916-01-20
zIHLMAN To FATHER
NEW BALLOT MEASURE
Uniform Ballot Law Eliminating the
SenSeless Declaration Clause
Now Being Prepared.

uniform ballot law for the entire
State and the abandonment of the re-
quirement that new citizen of Mary
land must declare his intentions ard
then reside in the State one year be-
fore being allowed to vote will be pro-
vided for in two bills by Senator Fred
erlck N. Zihlman, Of Allegany county.
The Republican Senate floor leader an
nounced today that he would introduce
both measures in a few days. He will
call upon the Independent thinking men
Of both parties to support them.
IA distinct burden and inequality is
now placed upon the voters of some of
the counties by the present system of
election laws" said Senator Zihlman,
"and this inequality should be ended at
once. now have in preparation uni
form ballot law which will place the
voters of the entire State on an equal
basis. Another crying evil is the law
compelling declaration of intentions.
Under the present law" continued
the Senator, "a man coming to Mary
land to make the state his home must
appear before the clerk of the court of
the county in which he lives and state
his intention of becoming a permanent
resident. He must then live in the
state one year before his name is en-
tered on the registration books. Hun
dreds and even thousands of men who
settle in Maryland are ignorant Of this
law and fail to declare their intentions.
only to find on some future election day
that they are temporarily DISTINGUISHED
A citizen of Mary land who plans to
leave the state temporarily must de-
clare his attention of not abandoning
his local residence. The injustice of
these provisions Is manifest.
In some counties gross discrimina-
ton is the case because of these laws.
Court officials may cooperate with the
voters of one party by touring the
county and securing declarations of IN
tentions, while the voters of an op-
posite party are forced to journey to
the county seat to make their declara-
tons through lack of knowledge that
the clerk was nearby.
Il shall not seek in my bill to have
the party emblem restored, but the
measure will provide for general rule
as to advance copies of the ballots.
cat this time in the counties of Anne
Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Kent, Prince
Georges. st. Marys. Somerset, Talbot
and Worcester. all persons, including
newspapers, are forbidden, under pen
atty, to advertise or circulate in any
way any copy or facsimile Of the ballot
to be used. Likewise, in these same
counties, the ballots must be without
party designations.
why should this law be on the
statute books when in Baltimore city
and in other counties it is mandatory
upon the Election Supervisors to ad-
vertise and otherwise expose advanced
copies of the ballot?
I'm Anne Arundel and Worcester
counties the entire ballot is thrown out
and not counted if theIvoter marks the
names of too many candidates in a
single group. The other sections of
MARYLAND have realized the gross in
justice to the innocent candidates in
this, and have so amended their cleo
ton laws as to permit the remainder of
the ballot to be counted.
The time has arrived when the
people of the state are looking for a
uniform ballot law, and even the Demo
cratic party realizes that this lack of
uniformity does not pay in the long run
The burden is upon the legislators of
Maryland to remedy these evil condi-
tons and to remedy them at this present
session"