The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-03-23
MUST Have
NINETY DAY
RESIDENCE
City Attorneys Department
Gives Holding Binding
in Coming Election.
SPALDING GIVES OPINION
Supreme Court Set Forth
the Proposition in Deci-
sion Some Time Ago!

In an informal report 10 City Audi
tor A. r. Watkins, Burleigh +. Spald-
| ing, assistant city attorney, advises
| the auditor that in order to vote at
the coming election it will be neces-
sary for an elector to be a resident
of the precinct in which he resides
| for at least so days. Mr.. Watkins
stated that this report will be taken
as the guide at the election and that
no one will be allowed to vote who
has not resided in the state one year,
the county six months and in the pre-
cinct 80 days. .r,.s'<
The report filed by Judge spalding
is as follows:
20 inQulring whether resident of
the city of Fargo not having lived
within the precinct where he seeks to
vote for ninety days preceding the
coming city election but otherwise
qualified to vote, l have to say that in
my opinion he is not entitled to vote
Stating my reasons as briefly as
question, l first call your attention to
the provision of our constitution on
the elective franchise; section 121
reads, Every male person Of the age
of twenty-one years or upwards be-
longing to either Of the following
classes who shall have resided in the
state one year, in the county six
months. and in the precinct ninety
days next preceding any election,
shall be a qualified elector at such
| election; first, citizens of the United
States; second civilized persons Of
Indian descent who have severed their
tribal relations two years next pre-
ceding such election
when our constitution was adopt
ed, the word precinct had an estab-
lished meaning in the law of the Ter
ritory of Dakota. Section 945 of the
compiled laws of Dakota territory for
1887 provided that each ward should
constitute an election district but that
wherever the number Of legal voters
in any ward should exceed 500, the
city council might, by ordinance, di-
vide such ward into two or more pre-
cincts for voting purposes. 1t pro-
vided further for the consolidation of
two or more wards into a voting pre-
cinct when the number Of voters did
not exceed 100, and that the wards
and precincts, as so constituted,
should be election districts for terri
torial and county elections.
Section 946 provided for city cleo
tons, requiring residence OF thirty
days in a city next preceding an cleo
ton and that the city council should
provide for registration OF all voters
and that no person should be entitled
to vote in any other place than the
ward or precinct where he resided. 1t
will be noticed that the only require
ment under this section was that the
person desiring to vote should possess
the qualifications necessary to vote at
territorial and county elections and be
resident of the ward or precinct.
Prior to 1889, five or ten days resi-
dence in the precinct was required but
in 1889 the law was changed so as to
require at all elections a residence
of six months in the territory, three
months in the county and thirty days
in the precinct next preceding the
election, and it was required when an
oath was necessary, among other
things. that the person offering to
vote should swear that he had resided |
in the United States for one year, in |
the territory six months and in the |
county three months and in the pre-
cinct thirty days next preceding the |
election. Reference to the statutes in
force when the constitution was
adopted discloses that the word dis
trict,' was used in the election laws and |
its meaning was defined by such |
laws, and in general differed very ma
terially from the meaning Of the word
precinct
These are some of the features of |
the law LnaL were W1Lnlu bn0 CO0p6Ins
plation of the trainers of the consti
tuition when adopted, the word pre-
cinct' as there employed must be held
to mean that subdivision Of a county
or city, as the case may be, within
which the voter must reside to en-
title him to cast his ballot at the vot-
ing place provided for the residents
of such precinct. The constitution is
our fundamental law. Neither the
legislature nor city commission can
change the qualifications necessary to
entitle one to vote. though the legisla-
ture may undoubtedly provide for the
creation of precincts differing from
those existing or defined when the con-
stitution was adopted; it cannot
change the qualifications SO as to
permit resident to vote in a precinct
in which he has not resided ninety
days next preceding the election.
Chapter SIS and Sc Of the laws of
1911 are practically re-enactments of
sections 945 and 946 compiled laws
of 1887, but If they may be construed
as attempting to authorize residents
of q city to vote elsewhere in the pre-
cinct in which they have resided for
ninety days before the election, they
are clearly in conflict with the terms
of the constitution.
There are other reasons for reach