Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1929-06-22
an official act or a personal act, that
is to say. was in the performance OF

an OUlClal acC OF pelSOlldl dSI, Oi@iC
is to say, was in the performance OF
duty enj0iaed Oil them By statute
- IA merely individual and PEI
sorai ana authorized by right in
.a-ort in the p0Iit al organization To-
n n .ceT ka.ong. Defer iaa5s say
.1at tie latter is the correct view.
Tai affiiiation with a political party
Is not matter of right but of party
rs2u alton and that the Legislature
as such has Nd authority to fix stard-
ards or qualifica tons of membersh. p.
Crigsby v. Harris, 81 F (2d) 942.
They say in effect that there is no
legal ban on the formation of a pl-
ltica' party based wholly on color o.
0r religious belief or on sex or aGy
other standard which the parry
chooses to adopt, and that because ot
this, the General Assembly of Viz
GINA in recognizing the right made
70 delegation of power but only re-
ocnized the existence of the powar
where it has always resided.
The Way Out
There can be no doubt, at least so
far as the State of Virginia is con-
c.rrcd TIA. Il political party MAJ
y..-se % 49,! ;:Self CT the priv
ioras of the direct primary and ma
nominate candidates to be voted Tor
n 6 general or special election IN any
u the ways in which such nomlna
ti9ri re-, made before the introduo
ton of the primary Candidates TO
cubic Office may be made such BY
petition. is action Of caucus, or ~
? convention. Indeed they may be
.,...:.c.tcd IL primary conducted by
ehe party under its own rules AID a:
Is own expense. But if because. 81
ne CREATE safeguards which the law
-h~ows around a legalizei primary
o., lecausa in such case the e%per So
Is borne by the State, party eIec:s
20 sdoDt this method of naming It's
Candidates for PUBLIC office, il may
4 60 and still preserve the absolute
r cat to determine who shall partl2i-
pate, is a much more delicate qu5s-
Ton.
A Modern Proposition
The primary as a means OF manu- 1g
candidates for a place OH the ottlc al
ballot is comparatively modern. lTs
spread in the last quarter of CEN
tury has been steady and it is today
in practically every State the exc u
sive method adopted by the two great
political parties for the nomination
of candidates for Office, State and
Federal. It's growth and adoption
as vital part of the election system
arose because of the importance to
the public to "give vitality to the
constitutional guaranty Of free and
untrammeled ballot"
Judge Ksith's Language
This purpose may not be better
stated than repeating the langulg
of Judge Keith in Commonwealth Y
Wilcox, III Va, page $50, as fol-
lows:
We know, as matter OF common
knowledge, that the purpose Of n j.
ing a primary election is to selec- .
candidate to be voted for by parC!r
organization at the ensuing general
or special election. We know that
the person selected at the primary
election to be voted for at the general
or special election will receive the
votes of the members of the party TO
which he belongs and for which the
primary is held, and if both political
organizations, or all political organl-
cations, into which a community is
divided, held primary elections, it
follows that the person
chosen at the primary becomes the
nominee of his party to be voted for
at the general election, and that one
of the primary nominees will ulti-
mately be elected to the office.
an other words, the primary when
adopted by political party becomes
an inseparable part of the election
machinery, and if candidate to be
voted for at the general election is to
be selected at a primary, it is impos-
sible to secure the regularity and
purity of the general election without
in the first place guarding against If
and fraud at the primary
election. The primary election con-
stitutes a necessary part, and fultils
an essential function in the plan to
promote honesty in the conduct of
Decentralization which shall faith
fully reflect and register the un-
bought will of the electors.
IF there be fraud in the primary
election, which is the very root from
which the whole system of regulation
springs, it is vain to regulate the
conduct of general elections, for the
fraud by which the nominee at the
primary election is chosen enters into
and is an ineradicable constituent in
the result. However fair the general
election may be, if at that election
men have no choice but to vote for
who have been nominated
by fraudulent practices at primaries,
Or else to desert their party, which
would be in most instances but to
throw away their votes without
achieving any good result, the effect
Of the election must be the consum-
nation of fraud and the defeat OF
the will of the people, for of thorns
men do not gather figs, nor Of BRAN
bic bush gather they grapes.
"We are of opinion that section
1920 is not only cognate and ger
name to, congruous with and in fur
therance of the object expressed in
the title of chapter 10 of the Code,
which fully satisfies the requirements
Of the Constitution, without resort to
any liberality of construction, but
that primary elections in their nature
have such relation to and bearing
upon general elections, that the omis-
sion to bring them within the law
would have left the plan devised by
the legislature for securing the regu-