The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-11-09
CONTESTS FOR THREE
SEATS IN CONGRESS
CRISP MAY ALSO HAVE TO DE-
FEND RIGHTS. RULING OF
DENNY ON SUFFRAGE OPEN
ED WAY FOR TROUBLE.

ATLANTA, Ga.-Attorney General
r. A. Denny's ruling that women were
entitled to vote in the general election
without complying with the Georgia
registration law S liable to be the
basis of lawsuits involving the validity
of the election of one United States
senator and four congressman in Geor-
gia.
The republicans, it is understood,
are planning to contest the validity OF
the election of Thomas f. Watson to
the senate, and OF Congressman Over
street, Crisp, Upshaw and Bell to the
house on the ground that Attorney
General Denny was right i'll his opin-
ion that women are entitled to vote IN
Georgia.
The ruling was made some weeks
ago to Governor Dorsey when the lat
ter was a candidate for United States
senator in the democratic state prl-
mary. Col. Denny held in the ruling
that females OF voting age were not
subject to the registration laws OF
Georgia for the reason that those laws
were passed to apply to males only.
He held that they were entitled to
vote in the general election then forth
coming on November Z, and, as a nee
essary consequence, that democratic
white women were entitled to vote In
the democratic white primary.
So many dangerous possibilities,
both of a political and legal nature,
were involved in the ruling that the
democratic state executive committee,
after several hours OF debate, declined
to admit democratic white women into
the primary. Some of the members
OF the committee who voted against
the admission OF women had previous
" taken prominent stand i'll favor of
woman suffrage.
Unsound Opinion.
If practically applied, Col. Denny's
ruling would have meant that any fe-
male could vote as many times at as
many different voting precincts as she
had a mind to, and as she could get
around to in a day 1t would have
meant that droves of reporters could
have been used at every precinct if
anybody had been a mind to use them
and had found females who were will
ing to lend themselves to such a
scheme. It meant, whether democratic
white women were admitted to or de-
MED from the democratic white pri-
mary, that negro women could vote
without registration or regulation in
the general election.
Hence the state executive commit
tee frowned on the ruling and refused
to let the white women into the pri-
mary.
To the credit OF the democratic'
white women. it should be noted lust
here that they accepted the decision
OF the state committee in good public
spirit and made no protest about it.
When they looked into the subject
they perceived at once the reasons
why the committee had taken the
stand it did. They had the intelligence
to see that Colonel Denny's ruling, if
carried out broadcast, might imperil
the white primary. They let the pri-
mary go by without an agitation, and
when the general election came along
they remained in the background with
out d protest knowing that their de-
mand would at once produce a similar
demand among the women of the 9TH
er race.
The republicans, OF course, saw
the situation clearly and took advant-
age of it.
The republicans also put in the field
four candidates for congress-one in
the First district against Congressman
Overstreet, in the Third district
against Congressman Crisp, in the
Fifth district against Congressman Up
shaw and in the Ninth district against
Congressman Bell.
Negro Women Apply.
Having thus paved the way for con-
testing the election, the republican
manipulatorS managed to have large
number of negro women present them
selves at divers and Sundry voting
precincts throughout the state and de-
mand the right to vote. Some IS to
100 negro women managed to get
their ballots in the box in the Sixth
ward of Atlanta through the conniv-
ance OF a republican precinct manager,
who had been appointed by the ordi-
nary at the request of the republicans.
Negro women, it is understood, pre-
scented themselves at voting precincts
in all of the other congressional dis
tricts where republican candidates
were in the field against the demo-
cratic nominees.
They demanded that they be allow
ed to vote as enfranchised citizens
whose rights had been upheld by the
highes, legal adviser OF the state-the
attorney general. Their program had
OreviOt1slv included the sending OF a