Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-09-02
JUDGE FLYNT SAYS
WOMEN CAM VOTE !. ! !:
IN STATE PRIMARY
Chairman Of State Commit
tee Takes Issue With A.
torney General, Who SAL
Women Are TiigrDle

executive committee of Georgia
takes issue with the ruling by At
torney General r. A. Denny that the
women can vote in the Democratic
stateNprimary to be held ON Septem-
Der s.
The ruling was rendered to Gov
ernor Dorsey on Monday afternoon.
In the ruling, which covered five
typewriter pages, Colonel Denny
holds that the ratification of the suf-
| frage amendment to the federal con-
stltut1on entities the women of
Georgia to vote in the forthcoming
state primary, as we'll as in any or
all other elections, without register
Ing or otherwise complying with the
suffrage laws Of Georgia
His argument is that the women
form new and separate class of
voters who are not touched at all by
| the suffrage laws of Georgia, be-
| cause these laws apply to males
| only.
with all due respect to Colonel
Denny" said Judge Flynt on long
| distance telephone, IT cannot see
now he. can possibly come to the
conclusion that the mere ratification
| OF federal constitutional amend
| ment upsets all the laws of this or
any other state with regard to suf-
| frage.~ 1t is absolutely impossible,
as l see it, for the women to vote
| until the legislature of Georgia en-
acts a law providing the machinery
for the qualification of female
voters. No such legislation has vet
been passed., and they cannot vote.
| Eject of the Ruling 9.
IF the women can vote without
registering, as contended by Colonel
Denny, what is to prevent woman
from voting as many times as she
wants to vote in one day? Suppose
a woman presents herself at a yo,-
ing precinct, tells the managers her
name is Mrs. Jones, and so on and
so forth, and they take her ballor
and put it in the box, how are they
| going to notify all the other cleo
ZION managers in the county, or in
other counties, that she has voted?
What is to prevent her from coming
back to that precinct and voting
/ again, or going to all the other pre-
cinctss in that county, or going 70
I as many precincts in adjoining coun-
| ties as she can, cover in the courss
of day? What is to prevent wom-
en- who are not residents of the state
! from voting in the primary? What 10
to prevent swarm Of women from
| coming into the state on that day to
vote in the primary?
1.-THE law of Georgia makes it q
crime for any election manager ia
any election, whether primary or
| general, to allow an unregistered
person to vote. My opinion is that
every election manager who allows
a woman to vote in the September
primary will be subject to prosecu-
ton for violating this law
1T does not make any dierencs
what action the Democratic state
committee may take or refuse TO
take. The committee has no power
| to change the laws of the state. The
laws are written by the legislature,
and nobody can change them but the
| legislature The state committee can
| hold a primary within the law but
| it cannot go outside of the law, or
! change the law.
IF the registration law and other
laws are abrogated by the suffrage
! amendment where females are con-
cerned, then necessarily they are abro-
| gated where males are concerned.
and any unregistered man could vote
in the primarily
Keen Interest In Controversy
Chairman Flynt's refusal to call
the state committee to make provi-
| sion for the women to vote in the
| September primary will be met by
a petition from members of the
| committee requesting him to call
| meeting.
He said Monday that he was not
| certain whether a meeting of the
committee could be held without a
call from the chairman. He did not
| have the rules of the committee be-
fore him when he was discussing
the matter over the long, distance
| telephone.
| of the Georgia Woman's Suffrage as
ISOLATION, announces that the women
will leave no stone unturned to Sc
cure their full rights to the ballot,
of Fulton county intend to go be-
fore the tax collector and publicly
demand the right that the federal
government has declared to be
theirs"
The Georgia registration law re-
quires the registration list to be
closed six months prior to the date
of an election This period expired
on the September primary before
the Tennessee Legislature ratified the
suffrage amendment, and likewise
expired on the general state election,
November 3, and the presidential
election on the same day. But wom-
en- can vote without registering at
all, according to Colonel Denny.
WOMEN ARE REGISTERED
IN ALABAMA COUNTIES
BIRMINGHAM, Ala, Aug. 81
Available reports early today from
four counties in Alabama showed
1,105 women have registered since
the suffrage amendment became part
of the federal constitution.
Jefferson county, which includes
the city of Birmingham, led the list
with IT'S regiStrants, Mobile was
next with 100 and Montgomery third
with 140. Lauderdale has had no
women registrants, according t. the
books at Florence, the conn ". sat.
Under the state law registration
books will be closed in this state
September 2. Womens clubs and
civic organizations in several of the
larger communities are encouraging
for president.
BOOKS IN MISSISSIPPI
ARE OPENED TO WOMEN
HAT,rxEsEUAG. 1Hi#--. 4"g Ut
Although women of Mississippi are =
barred from voting in the November
election by a state law, which closed
the polling books August t2, clerks
of circuit courts in several counties
have opened the lists to them and a
few nave gwen In their names.